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Silk‐Pectin Hydrogel with Superior Mechanical Properties, Biodegradability, and Biocompatibility
Author(s) -
Numata Keiji,
Yamazaki Shoya,
Katashima Takuya,
Chuah JoAnn,
Naga Naofumi,
Sakai Takamasa
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
macromolecular bioscience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.924
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1616-5195
pISSN - 1616-5187
DOI - 10.1002/mabi.201300482
Subject(s) - self healing hydrogels , silk , fibroin , pectin , biocompatibility , swelling , biodegradation , materials science , chemical engineering , chemistry , polymer chemistry , polymer science , composite material , organic chemistry , biochemistry , engineering
A new method is developed to prepare silk hydrogels and silk‐pectin hydrogels via dialysis against methanol to obtain hydrogels with high concentrations of silk fibroin. The relationship between the mechanical and biological properties and the structure of the silk‐pectin hydrogels is subsequently evaluated. The present results suggest that pectin associates with silk molecules when the silk concentration exceeds 15 wt%, suggesting that a silk concentration of over 15 wt% is critical to construct interacting silk‐pectin networks. The silk‐pectin hydrogel reported here is composed of a heterogeneous network, which is different from fiber‐reinforced, interpenetrated networks and double‐network hydrogels, as well as high‐stiffness hydrogels (elastic modulus of 4.7 ± 0.9 MPa, elastic stress limit of 3.9 ± 0.1 MPa, and elastic strain limit of 48.4 ± 0.5%) with regard to biocompatibility and biodegradability.