Studies on Indian Eri Silk Electrospun Fibroin Scaffold for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Silk is a natural biopolymer, which mainly consists of two proteins, fibroin and sericin. Silk has better biocompatibility and human blood compatibility than other natural biopolymers. Numerous studies have been conducted on application of cultivated mulberry silk (Bombyx mori) fibroin for biomedical applications and research still continues. A type of wild silk, eri (Samia cynthia ricini) has less amount of sericin, which induces inflammatory reaction than mulberry silk. Studies on application of Eri silk for biomedical application is limited. This paper discusses the development of electrospun fibrous mat from eri silk fibroin and physical, chemical, and biological characterization of the mat for the properties required for using them as biomaterials. The nanofibers had the average diameter in the range of 400–500 nm. Eri silk was found to possess higher thermal stability than mulberry silk. The cell viability percentage of eri silk fibroin was found to be higher than that of mulberry, and the cell attachment, binding, and spreading on the eri silk fibroin scaffold was superior compared to the mulberry silk fibroin scaffold. The eri silk fibroin scaffold coated with hydroxyapatite enhanced the bone cell attachment and cell growth compared to that of pure silk fibroin.