Self-Assembly of RGD-Functionalized Recombinant Spider Silk Protein into Microspheres in Physiological Buffer and in the Presence of Hyaluronic Acid.

ABSTRACT: Biomaterials made of self-assembling protein building blocks are widely explored for biomedical applications, for example, as drug carriers, tissue engineering scaffolds, and functionalized coatings. It has previously been shown that a recombinant spider silk protein functionalized with a cell binding motif from fibronectin, FN-4RepCT (FN-silk), self-assembles into fibrillar structures at interfaces, i.e., membranes, fibers, or foams at liquid/air interfaces, and fibrillar coatings at liquid/solid interfaces. Recently, we observed that FN-silk also assembles into microspheres in the bulk of a physiological buffer (PBS) solution. Herein, we investigate the self-assembly process of FN-silk into microspheres in the bulk and how its progression is affected by the presence of hyaluronic acid (H

SUBMITTER: Ornithopoulou E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10521021 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature