Development on silk fibroin-based biomaterials for tissue engineering applications

The present dissertation was proposed two possible approaches to develop silk fibroin-based biomaterials in the context of tissue engineering, i.e. (i) enhancement of the biological and physical functions of silk fibroin by blending/incorporating chitin derivatives, and (ii) the use of silk fibroin as a carrier matrix to delivery the bioactive agents. In case of (i), biodegradation of silk fibroin was greatly improved by blending with carboxymethyl chitin (CM-chitin). The biodegradability of the blends increased with increasing the CM-chitin contents. The incorporating chitin whiskers into the silk fibroin matrix not only promoted the dimensional stability but also enhanced in its mechanical properties. For (ii), the study was conducted both in vitro and in vivo using dyes and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) as low-and high-molecular weight model drugs, respectively. The results indicate that the silk fibroin proteins were amphiphilic-charged materials depending on the existing pH. The strong interaction was observed, when the charge of model drugs and silk fibroin were opposite. The in vivo study demonstrated that the use of silk fibroin scaffolds as the carrier matrix enabled to control in vivo release of bFGF in the sustainable fashion.