School of Chemical Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, P R China.
Biomacromolecules. 2011 Dec 12;12(12):4319-25. doi: 10.1021/bm201246f. Epub 2011 Nov 11.
We demonstrate the assembly of extremely robust and pH-responsive thin shell LbL microcapsules from silk fibroin counterparts modified with poly(lysine) and poly(glutamic) acid, which are based on biocompatible silk ionomer materials in contrast with usually exploited synthetic polyelectrolytes. The microcapsules are extremely stable in an unusually wide pH range from 1.5 to 12.0 and show a remarkable degree of reversible swelling/deswelling response in dimensions, as exposed to extreme acidic and basic conditions. These changes are accompanied by reversible variations in shell permeability that can be utilized for pH-controlled loading and unloading of large macromolecules. Finally, we confirmed that these shells can be utilized to encapsulate yeast cells with a viability rate much higher than that for traditional synthetic polyelectrolytes.
我们展示了由聚赖氨酸和聚谷氨酸修饰的丝素蛋白类似物组装而成的极其坚固且对 pH 敏感的薄壳 LbL 微胶囊，这些类似物基于具有生物相容性的丝离聚物材料，而不是通常使用的合成聚电解质。与通常使用的合成聚电解质相比，这些微胶囊在从 1.5 到 12.0 的非常宽的 pH 范围内极其稳定，并且在暴露于极端酸性和碱性条件下时在尺寸上显示出显著的可逆溶胀/收缩响应程度。这些变化伴随着壳层渗透性的可逆变化，可用于 pH 控制的大生物大分子的加载和卸载。最后，我们证实这些壳可以用于封装酵母细胞，其存活率远高于传统的合成聚电解质。
