Micromechanical characterization of spider silk particles
Micromechanical characterization of spider silk particles
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DOI：
10.1039/c3bm60108k
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发表时间：
2013-01-01
影响因子：
6.6
通讯作者：
Fery, Andreas
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Neubauer, Martin P.;Bluem, Claudia;Fery, Andreas
蜘蛛丝纤维以其机械性能而闻名，因此它们是材料科学家关注的焦点。此外，丝显示出生物相容性，使其成为在医学或化妆品中应用的有趣材料。由于蜘蛛的同类相食，天然蛛丝蛋白的丰度较低，因此重组蛛丝蛋白eADF 4已被确定用于材料科学应用。一旦通过受控盐析加工成微米级颗粒，这些颗粒就可以用作药物递送载体。对于丝颗粒的任何应用，重要的是了解它们的机械特性以用于加工和储存。在这里，我们研究这些颗粒的溶胀行为和力学。在水合作用后，弹性模量急剧下降，从干燥状态下的0.8 GPa下降到湿润状态下的2.99 MPa。重要的是，重组丝颗粒的弹性模量可以通过改变所用蛋白质的分子量及其化学交联来调节。
Spider silk fibers are well known for their mechanical properties, and they are therefore in the focus of materials scientists. Additionally, silks display biocompatibility making them interesting materials for applications in medicine or cosmetics. Due to the low abundance of natural spider silk proteins because of the spider's cannibalism, the recombinant spider silk protein eADF4 has been established for material science applications. Once processed into micron-sized particles by controlled salting-out, these particles can be used as drug delivery vehicles. For any application of the silk particles it is important to know their mechanical characteristics for processing and storage reasons. Here, we examine the swelling behavior and mechanics of these particles. Upon hydration, a drastic drop in elastic modulus occurs by orders of magnitude, from 0.8 GPa in the dry state to 2.99 MPa in the wet state. Importantly, the elastic modulus of recombinant silk particles can be tuned by varying the molecular weight of the used proteins, as well as chemical crosslinking thereof.