Manesa Kanono Comet, Kebede Temesgen Girma, Dube Simiso, Nindi Mathew Muzi
Department of Chemistry, University of South Africa, Florida Science Campus, Roodepoort 1709, South Africa.
Institute for Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability (iNanoWS), College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Florida Science Campus, 28 Pioneer Avenue, Roodepoort 1709, South Africa.
ACS Omega. 2022 May 31;7(23):19328-19336. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.2c00897. eCollection 2022 Jun 14.
This study deals with the fabrication and characterization of sericin-poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) composite films from three southern African silkworm cocoons. The sericin-PVA films were achieved by chemically cross-linking poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with pure silk sericin protein using glutaraldehyde (GA) as a cross-linking agent. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) results confirmed the overall cross-linking of pure silk sericin into PVA-GA networks to form cross-linked sericin-PVA films. This incident was shown by the incorporation of distinct major amide I (ν = 1640-1650 cm), amide II (ν = 1538-1540 cm), and amide III (ν = 1238-1244 cm) peaks. X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed sericin-PVA films to have two features, one representing amorphous and crystalline regions of silk sericin and the other representing sharp high-intensity PVA peaks at around 2θ = 20.2°, demonstrating a high crystallinity in the films as a result of the hydroxyl groups in its side chain. The swelling capacity of the three sericin-PVA films was influenced by the glutaraldehyde content used during the cross-linking process and pH of the aqueous medium into which the films were immersed after a period of time. The water contact angles of the sericin-PVA films were low, at 56.6 ± 0.56 and 60.2 ± 0.86, indicating further their hydrophilic nature. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images of the sericin-PVA films showed a rough texture with a granular network pattern on their surface. From the preliminary results, it was observed that the cytotoxicity of three sericin strains (, , and ) had a cell viability percentage of 103, 90, and 80% respectively, demonstrating their biocompatibility in providing a favorable natural microenvironment for cell culture. The characterization results of the three silk sericin-PVA films demonstrated their potential for application in biomedical and biomaterial fields.
本研究涉及由三种非洲南部蚕茧制备丝胶蛋白-聚乙烯醇（PVA）复合膜及其表征。丝胶蛋白-PVA膜是通过使用戊二醛（GA）作为交联剂，使聚乙烯醇（PVA）与纯丝胶蛋白进行化学交联而制得的。傅里叶变换红外（FTIR）结果证实了纯丝胶蛋白整体交联到PVA-GA网络中，形成了交联的丝胶蛋白-PVA膜。这一现象通过不同的主要酰胺I（ν = 1640 - 1650 cm）、酰胺II（ν = 1538 - 1540 cm）和酰胺III（ν = 1238 - 1244 cm）峰的出现得以体现。X射线衍射（XRD）显示丝胶蛋白-PVA膜具有两个特征，一个代表丝胶蛋白的无定形和结晶区域，另一个代表在2θ = 20.2°左右尖锐的高强度PVA峰，这表明由于其侧链中的羟基，膜具有高结晶度。三种丝胶蛋白-PVA膜的溶胀能力受交联过程中使用的戊二醛含量以及膜在一段时间后浸入的水性介质的pH值影响。丝胶蛋白-PVA膜的水接触角较低，分别为56.6 ± 0.56和60.2 ± 0.86，进一步表明了它们的亲水性。丝胶蛋白-PVA膜的扫描电子显微镜（SEM）图像显示其表面质地粗糙，具有颗粒状网络图案。从初步结果观察到，三种丝胶蛋白菌株（，，和）的细胞毒性分别具有103%、90%和80%的细胞活力百分比，表明它们在为细胞培养提供有利的天然微环境方面具有生物相容性。三种丝胶蛋白-PVA膜的表征结果证明了它们在生物医学和生物材料领域的应用潜力。
