Dataset Information

Development of a Process for the Spinning of Synthetic Spider Silk.

ABSTRACT: Spider silks have unique mechanical properties but current efforts to duplicate those properties with recombinant proteins have been unsuccessful. This study was designed to develop a single process to spin fibers with excellent and consistent mechanical properties. As-spun fibers produced were brittle, but by stretching the fibers the mechanical properties were greatly improved. A water-dip or water-stretch further increased the strength and elongation of the synthetic spider silk fibers. Given the promising results of the water stretch, a mechanical double-stretch system was developed. Both a methanol/water mixture and an isopropanol/water mixture were independently used to stretch the fibers with this system. It was found that the methanol mixture produced fibers with high tensile strength while the isopropanol mixture produced fibers with high elongation.

SUBMITTER: Copeland CG

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4826064 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Development of a Process for the Spinning of Synthetic Spider Silk.

Copeland Cameron G CG Bell Brianne E BE Christensen Chad D CD Lewis Randolph V RV

ACS biomaterials science & engineering 20150605 7

Spider silks have unique mechanical properties but current efforts to duplicate those properties with recombinant proteins have been unsuccessful. This study was designed to develop a single process to spin fibers with excellent and consistent mechanical properties. As-spun fibers produced were brittle, but by stretching the fibers the mechanical properties were greatly improved. A water-dip or water-stretch further increased the strength and elongation of the synthetic spider silk fibers. Given ...[more]

PMID: 27064312

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Project description:Spider silk proteins are synthesized in the silk-producing glands, where the spidroins are produced, stored and processed into a solid fiber from a crystalline liquid solution. Despite great interest in the spider silk properties, that make this material suitable for biomedical and biotechnological applications, the mechanism of formation and spinning of the silk fibers has not been fully elucidated; and no combination of proteomic and transcriptomic study has been carried out so far in the spider silk-producing glands. Nephila clavipes is an attractive orb-web spider to investigate the spinning process of silk production, given the properties of strength, elasticity and biocompatibility of their silk fibers. Thus, considering that the combination of proteomic and transcriptomic analysis may reveal an extensive repertoire of novel proteins involved in the silk spinning process, and in order to facilitate and enable proteomics in this non-model organism, the current study aims to construct a high quality reference mRNA-derived protein database that could be used to identify tissue specific expression patterns in spider silk glands. Next-generation sequencing has offered a powerful and cost-efficient technique for the generation of transcriptomic datasets in non-model species using diverse platforms such as the Illumina HiSeq, Roche 454, Pacific Biosystems, and Applied Biosystems SOLiD; In the current study, the Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform will be used to generate a N. clavipes spider silk glands transcriptome-based protein database. The transcriptome data generated in this study will provide a comprehensive and valuable genomic resource for future research of the group of spider silk-producing glands, in order to improve our understanding of the overall mechanism of action involved in production, secretion, storage, transport, protection and conformational changes of spidroins during the spinning process, and prey capture; and the results may be relevant for scientists in material Science, biology, biochemistry, and environmental scientists.

Project description:There is a large unmet need for off-the-shelf biomaterial options to supplant venous autografts in bypass and reconstructive surgical procedures. Existing graft alternatives formed from non-degradable synthetic polymers are not capable of maintaining long-term patency and are thus not indicated for <6 mm inner diameter bypass procedures. To fill this void, degradable silk-based biomaterials have been proposed that can maintain their mechanical properties (i.e. compliance) while facilitating slow but progressive biomaterial remodeling and host integration mediated by cellular colonization. The goal of the present study was to enhance the porosity of gel-spun silk tubes, to facilitate faster degradation rates and improve cellularity, and thus improve host integration over time in vivo, while maintaining requisite mechanical functions. Silk solutions with a range of molecular weight distributions and, in turn, viscosities were used to generate tubes of varying porosities. A decrease in solution concentration correlated with an increase in mean pore size and overall porosity through a density-dependent mechanism. Tubes were mechanically analyzed, and these properties were the basis of an analytical model used to correlate tube formulations to structural compliance, which were shown to be similar to the saphenous vein. Tubes were also tested for suture retention to ensure surgical utility despite increased porosity. Tubes were implanted in the abdominal aorta of Sprague-Dawley rats via an end-to-end anastomosis model. Tubes with higher porosities showed early improvements in cell colonization that progressively increased over time; conversely, the dense architecture of less porous grafts (20MB) inhibited cell ingrowth and resulted in minimal biomaterial degradation at the 6-month time point. None of the highly porous tubes (5 MB and 10MB) remained patent at 6 months, likely due remodeling inducing bulk mechanical failure or a compromised blood-material interface.

Dataset Information

Development of a Process for the Spinning of Synthetic Spider Silk.

Publications

Development of a Process for the Spinning of Synthetic Spider Silk.

Similar Datasets

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