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Bioactive hierarchical silk fibers created by bioinspired self-assembly

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journal contribution
posted on 2024-06-19, 02:36 authored by L Fan, Jingliang LiJingliang Li, Zengxiao CaiZengxiao Cai, X Wang
AbstractArtificial recapitulation of the hierarchy of natural protein fibers is crucial to providing strategies for developing advanced fibrous materials. However, it is challenging due to the complexity of the natural environment. Inspired by the liquid crystalline spinning of spiders, we report the development of natural silk-like hierarchical fibers, with bundles of nanofibrils aligned in their long-axis direction, by self-assembly of crystallized silk fibroin (SF) droplets. The formation of self-assembled SF fibers is a process of coalesced droplets sprouting to form a branched fibrous network, which is similar to the development of capillaries in our body. The as-assembled hierarchical SF fibers are highly bioactive and can significantly enhance the spreading and growth of human umbilical vein endothelial cells compared to the natural SF fibers. This work could help to understand the natural silk spinning process of spiders and provides a strategy for design and development of advanced fibrous biomaterials for various applications.

History

Journal

Nature Communications

Volume

12

Article number

ARTN 2375

Pagination

1 - 15

Location

England

Open access

  • Yes

ISSN

2041-1723

eISSN

2041-1723

Language

English

Publication classification

C Journal article, C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Issue

1

Publisher

NATURE PORTFOLIO