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Enzymatic Extraction of Bioactive and Self‐Assembling Wool Keratin for Biomedical Applications
Author(s) -
Su Chang,
Gong JinSong,
Ye JinPeng,
He JiMeng,
Li RuiYi,
Jiang Min,
Geng Yan,
Zhang Yan,
Chen JingHua,
Xu ZhengHong,
Shi JinSong
Publication year - 2020
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.202000073
Subject(s) - keratin , self healing hydrogels , chemistry , wool , extraction (chemistry) , keratin 8 , biochemistry , materials science , cell , polymer chemistry , chromatography , biology , paleontology , composite material
Keratin is widely recognized as a high‐quality renewable protein resource for biomedical applications. Despite their extensive existence, keratin resources such as feathers, wool, and hair exhibit high stability and mechanical properties because of their high disulfide bond content. Consequently, keratin extraction is challenging and its application is greatly hindered. In this work, a biological extraction strategy is proposed for the preparation of bioactive keratin and the fabrication of self‐assembled keratin hydrogels (KHs). Based on moderate and controlled hydrolysis by keratinase, keratin with a high molecular weight of approximately 45 and 28 kDa that retain its intrinsic bioactivities is obtained. The keratin products show excellent ability to promote cell growth and migration and are conferred with significant antioxidant ability because of their intrinsically high cysteine content. In addition, without the presence of any cross‐linking agent, the extracted keratin can self‐assemble into injectable hydrogels. The KHs exhibit a porous network structure and 3D culture ability, showing potential in promoting wound healing. This enzyme‐driven keratin extraction strategy opens up a new approach for the preparation of keratin that can self‐assemble into injectable hydrogels for biomedical engineering.