Youn Yun Hee, Pradhan Sayantan, da Silva Lucília P, Kwon Il Keun, Kundu Subhas C, Reis Rui L, Yadavalli Vamsi K, Correlo Vitor M
3B's Research Group, I3Bs - Research Institute on Biomaterials, Biodegradables and Biomimetics, University of Minho, Headquarters of the European Institute of Excellence on Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, AvePark, Parque de Ciência e Tecnologia, Zona Industrial da Gandra, Barco, Guimar̃es 4805-017, Portugal.
ICVS/3B's-PT Government Associate Laboratory, Braga, Guimarães 4806-909, Portugal.
ACS Biomater Sci Eng. 2021 Jun 14;7(6):2466-2474. doi: 10.1021/acsbiomaterials.1c00216. Epub 2021 Apr 14.
There has been growing interest in the use of natural bionanomaterials and nanostructured systems for diverse biomedical applications. Such materials can confer unique functional properties as well as address concerns pertaining to sustainability in production. In this work, we propose the biofabrication of micropatterned silk fibroin/eumelanin composite thin films to be used in electroactive and bioactive applications in bioelectronics and biomedical engineering. Eumelanin is the most common form of melanin, naturally derived from the ink of cuttlefish, having antioxidant and electroactive properties. Another natural biomaterial, the protein silk fibroin, is modified with photoreactive chemical groups, which allows the formation of electroactive eumelanin thin films with different microstructures. The silk fibroin/eumelanin composites are fabricated to obtain thin films as well as electroactive microstructures using UV curing. Here, we report for the first time the preparation, characterization, and physical, electrochemical, and biological properties of these natural silk fibroin/eumelanin composite films. Higher concentrations of eumelanin incorporated into the films exhibit a higher charge storage capacity and good electroactivity even after 100 redox cycles. In addition, the microscale structure and the cellular activity of the fibroin/eumelanin films are assessed for understanding of the biological properties of the composite. The developed micropatterned fibroin/eumelanin films can be applied as natural electroactive substrates for bioapplications (e.g., bioelectronics, sensing, and theranostics) because of their biocompatible properties.
对于将天然生物纳米材料和纳米结构系统用于各种生物医学应用的兴趣与日俱增。这类材料不仅能赋予独特的功能特性，还能解决生产中的可持续性问题。在本研究中，我们提出生物制造微图案化的丝素蛋白/真黑素复合薄膜，用于生物电子学和生物医学工程中的电活性和生物活性应用。真黑素是黑色素最常见的形式，天然来源于乌贼墨，具有抗氧化和电活性特性。另一种天然生物材料，蛋白质丝素蛋白，用光反应性化学基团进行修饰，这使得能够形成具有不同微观结构的电活性真黑素薄膜。通过紫外线固化制备丝素蛋白/真黑素复合材料，以获得薄膜以及电活性微观结构。在此，我们首次报道了这些天然丝素蛋白/真黑素复合薄膜的制备、表征以及物理、电化学和生物学性质。掺入薄膜中的真黑素浓度越高，即使经过100次氧化还原循环后仍表现出更高的电荷存储容量和良好的电活性。此外，评估了丝素蛋白/真黑素薄膜的微观结构和细胞活性，以了解复合材料的生物学性质。所开发的微图案化丝素蛋白/真黑素薄膜因其生物相容性特性，可作为生物应用（如生物电子学、传感和治疗诊断学）的天然电活性基质。
