Abstract
Keratins are highly attractive for medical applications due to their inherent self-assemblies characteristics and biocompatibility. However, nearly all researches have focused on the properties of hybrid hydrogels which was prepared from human hair keratin with other materials, and the preparation methods and properties of pure keratin hydrogels are rarely studied. Thus, we extracted keratins from rabbit hair, and a low concentration and high purity RHK hydrogel was then prepared by a simple freeze–thaw cycle and used to study gelation and the optical properties. The results indicated that RHK keratin hydrogel is a reversible thixotropic system and elastic modulus the storage modulus (G′) substantially improves with freeze–thaw cycles. The systematic assessments including microstructural observation, porosity, and the secondary structure confirmed that the structure and properties of keratin hydrogels can be changed by controlling freeze–thaw cycles. Meanwhile, it is found that RHK hydrogel had high optical transmittance, and still maintained its fluorescent properties, which would be useful to observe the wound healing and locate the drug delivery process.
Highlights
As a renewable resource, keratin resources are very abundant, it is found widely in human and animal organs, including epidermis, hoof, horn, hairs, feather, and protein fiber (Shavandi et al, 2017)
We believe that the formation of keratin hydrogels is due to the three-dimensional network structure formed by the binding of keratin molecules, bound water adsorbed by keratin hydrophilic groups, and the unbound water clamped in the pore structure
The morphology, structure, and physical properties of rabbit hair keratin (RHK) hydrogels can be adjusted by controlling the FT processing parameters
Summary
Keratin resources are very abundant, it is found widely in human and animal organs, including epidermis, hoof, horn, hairs, feather, and protein fiber (Shavandi et al, 2017). Some studies have tried to make pure keratin scaffolds (Saul et al, 2011; Burnett et al, 2013; Wang et al, 2015), but most of the preparation and research of hydrogels has focused on human hair. The feasibility of preparation of rabbit hair keratin (RHK) hydrogel by cryogelation was studied. The rabbit hair defatted with petroleum ether and anhydrous ethanol was subjected to ultrasonic treatment It was immersed in mixed urea-sodium bisulfite-sulfate solvent, and the solution was heated and mechanically stirred for 4.5 h. The hydrogel was freeze-dried at −80°C to prepare keratin scaffolds for morphology and structure testing, and the RHK solution without the FT treatment was used as control. The cross-head speed was set at 0.1 mm/min and the tests were terminated
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