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Silk fibroin sponges with cell growth‐promoting activity induced by genetically fused basic fibroblast growth factor
Author(s) -
Kambe Yusuke,
Kojima Katsura,
Tamada Yasushi,
Tomita Naohide,
Kameda Tsunenori
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of biomedical materials research part a
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.849
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1552-4965
pISSN - 1549-3296
DOI - 10.1002/jbm.a.35543
Subject(s) - fibroin , basic fibroblast growth factor , materials science , fibroblast , tissue engineering , sponge , biophysics , cell culture , recombinant dna , microbiology and biotechnology , biomedical engineering , biology , biochemistry , growth factor , in vitro , silk , composite material , botany , medicine , receptor , genetics , gene
Transgenic silkworm technology has enabled the biological properties of silk fibroin protein to be altered by fusion to recombinant bioactive proteins. However, few studies have reported the fabrication of genetically modified fibroin proteins into three‐dimensional spongy structures to serve as scaffolds for tissue engineering. We generated a transgenic silkworm strain that produces fibroin fused to basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and processed the fibroin into a spongy structure using a simple freeze/thaw method. NIH3T3 mouse embryonic fibroblasts grown on bFGF‐fused fibroin sponges proliferated and spread out well, showing half the population doubling time of cells cultured on wild‐type fibroin sponges. Furthermore, the number of primary rabbit articular chondrocytes growing on bFGF‐fused fibroin sponges was around five‐times higher than that of the wild‐type control at 3‐days post cell‐seeding. As the physical properties of wild‐type and bFGF‐fused fibroin sponges were almost identical, it is suggested that bFGF fused to fibroin retained its biological activity, even after the bFGF‐fused fibroin was fabricated into the spongy structure. The bFGF‐fused fibroin sponge has the potential for widespread application in the field of tissue engineering, and the method of fabricating this structure could be applicable to other recombinant bioactive fibroin proteins. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 104A: 82–93, 2016.