Abstract
ABSTRACT Fibroin (FB) and bacterial nanocellulose (BC) are natural products, being used in biomedicine, electronics, food industries and other areas. Both show biocompatibility, able to be used for many different purposes. The blending of fibroin and bacterial nanocellulose was design to produce a biocompatible material to be applied with a medical device. For this reason, the objective of this work was to evaluate the structure properties of the blending of BC and FB. Thus, FB was extracted from Bombyx mori and BC was produced by fermentation process utilizing Gluconacetobacter xylinus. The membranes composed of BC-FB were produced by immersion contact for 24 hours, at 25°C, in 100rpm; without crosslinking agent. After the production the membrane samples were dried and characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR spectroscopy), mechanical proprieties, swelling efficiency, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and computerized microtomography (µCt). Results indicate that the hydrogen-bonded porous membranes obtained displayed anisiotropic, closed and interconnected porous morphology. The morphometric characteristics, which resemble a honeycomb and consist of a long structure with high connectivity and high total porosity, amplify the areas of BC-FB blend applications, with potential utilization with optoelectronic devices, in areas ranging from environmental to tissue engineering. Furthermore, the production by immersion contact will allow the upscale process and the development of green label material.
Highlights
In bioengineering, the light fibroin (FB) chain found in the silk filaments of Bombyx mori has low immunogenicity and low risk for acute cellular rejection
The bacterial nanocellulose (BC)-FB membranes were visually similar to a BC sample
Despite that BC can naturally hold a large amount of water and the swelling ratio (SR) is an important property involved in medical applications [27–32]
Summary
The light fibroin (FB) chain found in the silk filaments of Bombyx mori has low immunogenicity and low risk for acute cellular rejection. The material size, chains with molecular weight in the range of 200–350 kDa, does not allow the phagocytosis, and it does not cause inflammatory reactions [1-4]. The advantage of silk fibroin is the possibility of biochemical manipulation of its solubility by artificial induction of β-sheet formation when polyaniline is incorporated [5]. The soluble FB can be manipulated to acquire several shapes and thickness in film, fibres, nets, scaffold, mat, threads [4, 6]
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