Effect of different cocoon stifling methods on the properties of silk fibroin biomaterials.

ABSTRACT: Stifling treatments are applied to silk cocoons in order to kill the pupae, preventing the emergence of moths and allowing to preserve the silk during long periods of time. All of them involve the application of aggressive steps, such as sun exposure, hot steam from boiling water or hot air, during hours or even days. None of the scientific articles related to silk fibroin biomaterials has previously taken into account this fact in its section of materials and methods. In this work, the consequences of the stifling treatments most commonly used by the silk producing countries and companies are explored in depth, using fibroin films as biomaterial model. The protein degradation (visualised by SDS-PAGE) was dramatically increased in all the fibroin dissolutions produced from stifled cocoons;

SUBMITTER: Aznar-Cervantes SD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6491555 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature