Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Bindley Bioscience Center, Purdue University, 610 Purdue Mall, West Lafayette, Indiana 47907, United States.
School of Food & Advanced Technology, Massey University, Albany, Auckland 0632, New Zealand.
Biomacromolecules. 2020 Jul 13;21(7):2772-2785. doi: 10.1021/acs.biomac.0c00500. Epub 2020 Jun 8.
Amyloid-like fibrils are prepared from protein in the lab by controlled heat treatments, yet these must be further assembled to match the desirable mechanical and structural properties of biological fibers. Here, β-lactoglobulin fibrils were incorporated into poly(ethylene oxide) fibers of 40-180 nm diameter by electrospinning. Protein fibrils presented as short segments dispersed within electrospun fibers, with no change in fibril diameter after electrospinning. Imaging analysis revealed fibrils were aligned within 20° relative to the fiber long axis, and alignment was further confirmed by polarized FTIR and anisotropic SAXS/WAXS scattering patterns. The elastic modulus of fibers increased with protein fibril content from 0.8 to 2 GPa, which is superior to reported values of silk, collagen, and gelatin. The present setup allows for manufacture of large quantities of polymeric fibers containing protein fibrils with varied diameter and mechanical strength, endowing great potential for a variety of applications.
淀粉样纤维是通过实验室中对蛋白质的可控热处理制备的，但这些纤维必须进一步组装以匹配生物纤维所需的机械和结构性能。在这里，β-乳球蛋白纤维通过静电纺丝被掺入到直径为 40-180nm 的聚氧化乙烯纤维中。蛋白质纤维呈短片段分散在静电纺纤维中，静电纺丝后纤维直径没有变化。成像分析表明，纤维相对于纤维长轴以 20°的角度排列，并且通过偏振 FTIR 和各向异性 SAXS/WAXS 散射图案进一步证实了这种排列。纤维的弹性模量随蛋白质纤维含量从 0.8 增加到 2GPa，这优于丝、胶原和明胶的报道值。目前的设置允许制造大量含有不同直径和机械强度的蛋白质纤维的聚合物纤维，为各种应用提供了巨大的潜力。
