Chain entanglement enhanced strong and tough wool keratin/albumin fibers for bioabsorbable and immunocompatible surgical sutures.

ABSTRACT: High-performance fibers derived from non-silk proteins have garnered significant interest in biomedical applications because of their high accessibility and biocompatibility. Nonetheless, considerable challenges persist in addressing their structural defects to fabricate fibers with an optimal balance of strength and toughness. Herein, an entanglement-reinforced strategy is proposed to reconstruct high-performance non-silk protein fibers. Regenerated keratin and bovine serum albumin (BSA) are unfolded by denaturant and complementarily composited, leveraging their intrinsic cysteine re-oxidation to generate a robust mechanical cross-linking network without the requirement of an external crosslinker. The resulting drawn keratin/BSA composite fiber (DKBF) exhibits balanced mechanical performa

SUBMITTER: He H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11950410 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature