Effect of extraction conditions on the stability and safety of sericin

To assess the feasibility of silk sericin for non-textile application, the storage stability and biological safety of sericin were examined. It was extracted at 37℃, 70℃, 100℃, and 121℃ for 1, 3, and 5 h to elucidate the effect of extraction condition on the stability and safety of silk sericin. The solubility was increased till approximately 26% with extraction temperature of 121℃ for 1 h. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) showed that the molecular weight distribution depended on the extraction conditions. Extracted sericin displayed typical UV absorption bands upon spectrometric analysis. To examine the reproducibility of its obtained conformation, sericin was extracted thrice and its circular dichroism (CD) spectra was measured each time. Most CD spectra showed reproducibility regardless of temperature and time except under 100℃ extraction condition. The diversity of CD spectrum showed gradual reduction and was finally coincident with extraction time from 1 to 5 h. Notably, sericin has a negative peak of approximately 200 nm attributed to random coil conformation, regardless of extraction condition. However, at the 100℃ extraction condition, sericin showed both bands to be negative bands of approximately 200 and 220 nm, respectively. Sericin was centrifuged to determine the stability of storage conditions. The sericin extracted at 100℃ and 121℃ for 1 h was found to form gel rapidly within 1 h, but at 121℃ condition, the gel fraction was approximately 20% within 1 h which retained its phase regardless of storage time. The gel fraction of sericin extracted at 100℃ for 5 h increased with time, however at the 121℃ for 5 h condition, the gel fraction was measured to be less than 10% regardless of increase in storage time. Petriflim^TM AC plates test showed that sericin was safe from aerobic bacteria activity by extraction under high temperature.