Lu Qiang, Feng Qingling, Hu Kun, Cui Fuzhai
Laboratory of Advanced Materials, Department of Material Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, P.R. China.
J Mater Sci Mater Med. 2008 Feb;19(2):629-34. doi: 10.1007/s10856-007-3180-9. Epub 2007 Jul 10.
Three dimensional (3-D) fibroin/collagen scaffolds are the novel fibroin based scaffolds derived from aqueous solution. In this article, we investigated the effect of pH on the formation of fibroin/collagen scaffolds. In the range of pH from 4 to 8.5, the fibroin/collagen scaffolds with good porous structures can be prepared using freeze-drying method, which would facilitate the adding of other biopolymers. The structures of different fibroin-based scaffolds were investigated with FTIR and DSC, which indicated that the interaction of fibroin and collagen affected the methanol-induced transformation of fibroin from random-coil to beta-sheet conformation. The mechanical properties were also studied. The results mean that all the fibroin-based scaffolds prepared in various pH values had better mechanical properties than other reported fibroin scaffolds. Since the fibroin/collagen scaffolds can be prepared in the range of pH from 4 to 8.5, it is very easy to prepare different multifunctional scaffolds such as fibroin/collagen/chitosan scaffolds and fibroin/collagen/heparin scaffolds in acidic or neutral conditions. These new fibroin-based blend materials extend the range of biomaterial properties that can promote the use in biomedical applications such as drug release and tissue engineering.
三维（3-D）丝素蛋白/胶原蛋白支架是一种新型的基于丝素蛋白的支架，由水溶液衍生而来。在本文中，我们研究了pH值对丝素蛋白/胶原蛋白支架形成的影响。在pH值为4至8.5的范围内，可使用冷冻干燥法制备具有良好多孔结构的丝素蛋白/胶原蛋白支架，这将便于添加其他生物聚合物。用傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）和差示扫描量热法（DSC）研究了不同基于丝素蛋白的支架结构，结果表明丝素蛋白与胶原蛋白的相互作用影响了甲醇诱导的丝素蛋白从无规卷曲构象向β-折叠构象的转变。还研究了其力学性能。结果表明，在不同pH值下制备的所有基于丝素蛋白的支架都比其他已报道的丝素蛋白支架具有更好的力学性能。由于丝素蛋白/胶原蛋白支架可在pH值为4至8.5的范围内制备，因此在酸性或中性条件下制备不同的多功能支架，如丝素蛋白/胶原蛋白/壳聚糖支架和丝素蛋白/胶原蛋白/肝素支架非常容易。这些新型的基于丝素蛋白的混合材料扩展了生物材料性能的范围，可促进其在药物释放和组织工程等生物医学应用中的使用。
