Atri Halleh, Bidram Elham, Dunstan David E
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia.
Materials (Basel). 2015 Nov 5;8(11):7472-7485. doi: 10.3390/ma8115392.
Nowadays the waste from protein fibres represents an important renewable source for a new generation of biomaterials and promising competitors for carbohydrate based biomaterials. Regenerated keratin biomaterials are biodegradable and , biocompatible, and support cell attachment and proliferation; however, their major drawback has been their weak mechanical properties such as ductility. The following study was conducted in an attempt to improve the ductility of reconstituted keratin films obtained from Australian merino wool fibres. Keratin was extracted from wool fibres according to an established protocol proposed by Yamauchi, and then dialyzed and desalted by multiple diafiltration wash cycles. The resulting keratin film was transparent, biodegradable, and, opposite to its predecessors, mechanically durable, possessing a Young modulus about 12.5 MPa with 35% extensibility. The polypeptide chains were found to rearrange themselves in the β-sheet state in this keratin film, which was shown to be semi-crystalline. This film, unlike its predecessors, did not support human cell proliferation. These properties of the diafiltered keratin film have led us to think that diafiltration resulted in producing a totally new keratin film, which is envisaged to find applications in various areas.
如今，蛋白质纤维产生的废料是新一代生物材料的重要可再生资源，有望成为碳水化合物基生物材料的有力竞争对手。再生角蛋白生物材料具有可生物降解性和生物相容性，且能支持细胞附着和增殖；然而，其主要缺点是机械性能较弱，如延展性差。开展以下研究旨在提高从澳大利亚美利奴羊毛纤维中获得的再生角蛋白膜的延展性。按照Yamauchi提出的既定方案从羊毛纤维中提取角蛋白，然后通过多次渗滤洗涤循环进行透析和脱盐。所得角蛋白膜是透明的、可生物降解的，与之前的膜不同，它具有机械耐久性，杨氏模量约为12.5兆帕，延伸率为35%。发现该角蛋白膜中的多肽链以β-折叠状态重新排列，显示为半结晶状态。与之前的膜不同，这种膜不支持人类细胞增殖。渗滤角蛋白膜的这些特性使我们认为渗滤产生了一种全新的角蛋白膜，预计可在各个领域找到应用。
