Cargando…

A Comparative Study on the Dissolution of Argema mimosae Silk Fibroin and Fabrication of Films and Nanofibers

Limited studies have been done on silk fibroins of wild silkworm species owing to their relative insolubility in many solvents. In this study, the solubility of Argema mimosae wild silk fibroin in different salts (LiBr, LiCl, Ca(NO(3))(2), and CaCl(2)) dissolved in formic acid under varying temperat...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Kgomo, Hlobsile, Ncube, Somandla, Mhuka, Vimbai, Kebede, Temesgen Girma, Dube, Simiso, Nindi, Mathew M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7918941/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33673368
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym13040549
_version_ 1783658037154676736
author Kgomo, Hlobsile
Ncube, Somandla
Mhuka, Vimbai
Kebede, Temesgen Girma
Dube, Simiso
Nindi, Mathew M.
author_facet Kgomo, Hlobsile
Ncube, Somandla
Mhuka, Vimbai
Kebede, Temesgen Girma
Dube, Simiso
Nindi, Mathew M.
author_sort Kgomo, Hlobsile
collection PubMed
description Limited studies have been done on silk fibroins of wild silkworm species owing to their relative insolubility in many solvents. In this study, the solubility of Argema mimosae wild silk fibroin in different salts (LiBr, LiCl, Ca(NO(3))(2), and CaCl(2)) dissolved in formic acid under varying temperatures was investigated. The dissolution conditions under which the solubility was optimum were optimized using a central composite design approach. The optimum range for solvation of the fibroin were visualized using contour plots. The influence of temperature and salt concentration were found to significantly influence the solvation of the fibroin. Following the successful dissolution of the fibroin, the regenerated silk fibroin solutions were cast to obtain water insoluble films which were used in investigating optimum electrospinning conditions. Average nanofiber diameters in the 110–141 nm range were obtained under optimum electrospinning conditions. The silk forms were characterized using the FTIR, TGA, XRD, and SEM to understand their properties. The investigations revealed that formic acid—salt solvents were effective in the solvation of the wild silk fibroin. Some of the dissolution conditions induced mild effects on the silk fibroin while others were harsh. Furthermore, processing to nanofibers resulted in the degradation of the β-sheets producing nanofibers rich in α-helices. However, post-treatment using methanol and water vapor were effective in restoring β-sheet crystallinity.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7918941
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-79189412021-03-02 A Comparative Study on the Dissolution of Argema mimosae Silk Fibroin and Fabrication of Films and Nanofibers Kgomo, Hlobsile Ncube, Somandla Mhuka, Vimbai Kebede, Temesgen Girma Dube, Simiso Nindi, Mathew M. Polymers (Basel) Article Limited studies have been done on silk fibroins of wild silkworm species owing to their relative insolubility in many solvents. In this study, the solubility of Argema mimosae wild silk fibroin in different salts (LiBr, LiCl, Ca(NO(3))(2), and CaCl(2)) dissolved in formic acid under varying temperatures was investigated. The dissolution conditions under which the solubility was optimum were optimized using a central composite design approach. The optimum range for solvation of the fibroin were visualized using contour plots. The influence of temperature and salt concentration were found to significantly influence the solvation of the fibroin. Following the successful dissolution of the fibroin, the regenerated silk fibroin solutions were cast to obtain water insoluble films which were used in investigating optimum electrospinning conditions. Average nanofiber diameters in the 110–141 nm range were obtained under optimum electrospinning conditions. The silk forms were characterized using the FTIR, TGA, XRD, and SEM to understand their properties. The investigations revealed that formic acid—salt solvents were effective in the solvation of the wild silk fibroin. Some of the dissolution conditions induced mild effects on the silk fibroin while others were harsh. Furthermore, processing to nanofibers resulted in the degradation of the β-sheets producing nanofibers rich in α-helices. However, post-treatment using methanol and water vapor were effective in restoring β-sheet crystallinity. MDPI 2021-02-12 /pmc/articles/PMC7918941/ /pubmed/33673368 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym13040549 Text en © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Kgomo, Hlobsile
Ncube, Somandla
Mhuka, Vimbai
Kebede, Temesgen Girma
Dube, Simiso
Nindi, Mathew M.
A Comparative Study on the Dissolution of Argema mimosae Silk Fibroin and Fabrication of Films and Nanofibers
title A Comparative Study on the Dissolution of Argema mimosae Silk Fibroin and Fabrication of Films and Nanofibers
title_full A Comparative Study on the Dissolution of Argema mimosae Silk Fibroin and Fabrication of Films and Nanofibers
title_fullStr A Comparative Study on the Dissolution of Argema mimosae Silk Fibroin and Fabrication of Films and Nanofibers
title_full_unstemmed A Comparative Study on the Dissolution of Argema mimosae Silk Fibroin and Fabrication of Films and Nanofibers
title_short A Comparative Study on the Dissolution of Argema mimosae Silk Fibroin and Fabrication of Films and Nanofibers
title_sort comparative study on the dissolution of argema mimosae silk fibroin and fabrication of films and nanofibers
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7918941/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33673368
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym13040549
work_keys_str_mv AT kgomohlobsile acomparativestudyonthedissolutionofargemamimosaesilkfibroinandfabricationoffilmsandnanofibers
AT ncubesomandla acomparativestudyonthedissolutionofargemamimosaesilkfibroinandfabricationoffilmsandnanofibers
AT mhukavimbai acomparativestudyonthedissolutionofargemamimosaesilkfibroinandfabricationoffilmsandnanofibers
AT kebedetemesgengirma acomparativestudyonthedissolutionofargemamimosaesilkfibroinandfabricationoffilmsandnanofibers
AT dubesimiso acomparativestudyonthedissolutionofargemamimosaesilkfibroinandfabricationoffilmsandnanofibers
AT nindimathewm acomparativestudyonthedissolutionofargemamimosaesilkfibroinandfabricationoffilmsandnanofibers
AT kgomohlobsile comparativestudyonthedissolutionofargemamimosaesilkfibroinandfabricationoffilmsandnanofibers
AT ncubesomandla comparativestudyonthedissolutionofargemamimosaesilkfibroinandfabricationoffilmsandnanofibers
AT mhukavimbai comparativestudyonthedissolutionofargemamimosaesilkfibroinandfabricationoffilmsandnanofibers
AT kebedetemesgengirma comparativestudyonthedissolutionofargemamimosaesilkfibroinandfabricationoffilmsandnanofibers
AT dubesimiso comparativestudyonthedissolutionofargemamimosaesilkfibroinandfabricationoffilmsandnanofibers
AT nindimathewm comparativestudyonthedissolutionofargemamimosaesilkfibroinandfabricationoffilmsandnanofibers