Abstract
This work describes a new approach to the delivery of light in deeper tissues, through a silk filament that is implantable, biocompatible, and biodegradable. In the present work, silkworm gut fibers (SGFs) of Bombyx mori L., are made by stretching the silk glands. Morphological, structural, and optical properties of the fibers have been characterized and the stimulatory effect of red laser light diffused from the fiber was assayed in fibroblast cultures. SGFs are formed by silk fibroin (SF) mainly in a β-sheet conformation, a stable and non-soluble state in water or biological fluids. The fibers showed a high degree of transparency to visible and infrared radiation. Using a red laser (λ = 650 nm) as source, the light was efficiently diffused along the fiber wall, promoting a significant increment in the cell metabolism 5 h after the irradiation. SGFs have shown their excellent properties as light-diffusing optical fibers with a stimulatory effect on cells.
Highlights
Light has a wide array of effects on cells and living tissues [1]
Some of these effects are positive and have been developed as therapies by biomedical research. One of these therapeutic approaches based on the stimulatory effect of light on cells is low-level laser therapy (LLLT), which can stimulate a number of biological processes—mainly cell growth, proliferation, and differentiation—in a diversity of cell types [1]
FU) sing a halogen lamp as the light source (Osram 3000 K, 12 V, 20 W, GU5.3), which produces polychromatic warm light, the silkworm gut fibers (SGFs) Prior to the study of the stimulatory effect on cell cultures of red or near-infrared light delivered from SGF, characterization of the laterally emitted light from the fibers when illuminated with polychromatic light was performed
Summary
Light has a wide array of effects on cells and living tissues [1]. Some of these effects are positive and have been developed as therapies by biomedical research. Regenerated silk optical waveguides have been printed on quartz without a cladding layer [24] These waveguides had low loss propagation (0.25 and 0.81 dB/cm for the straight and curved waveguides, respectively, at 633 nm), an interesting property when the application requires light delivery focused in a point at the end of the fiber. Our new approach, proposed in the present work, is the use of the ancient silkworm gut fibers (SGFs) as a light-diffusing fiber This fiber, with a diameter of 300–500 μm, is obtained directly from the manual stretching of the silk gland after an acidification bath. SGFs present an easier fabrication process, which is an important advantage
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