• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.131-135
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• 1998

Changes of silk fibroin molecular weight was studied by enzymatic proteolysis and reverse reaction of enzymatic proteolysis (plastein reaction) using chromatography, X-ray diffraction and thermal analysis methods. When the treatment of enzymatic proteolysis with $\alpha$-chymotripsin to silk fibroin solution, a precipitate of Fcp fractions was formed. And, this was dissolved in LiBr aqueous solution, the precipitate of PIFcp fractions was obtained again. Fcp and PIFcp fractions showed silk IIand silk Itype structure, respectively. Fcp fractions was about 6,900 in molecular weight, PIFcp fractions obtained by plastein reaction on the precipitate of Fcp fractions increased molecular weight to abort 15,000. The molecular weight of Fcp fractions was increased by plastein reaction, but Fcp fractions almost transited to silk I type crystal. The structure of silk I type of PIFcp fractions was steady identified by X-ray diffraction and thermal analysis. As molecular weight of Fcp fractions was gradually low, PIFcp fractions was become to macromolecule little by little.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.75-79
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• 2012

Low-melting-temperature agarose gel solution, as a novel porogen was combined with a silk fibroin solution to generate interconnected porous networks. The porosity of the resultant silk fibroin-agarose scaffolds was greater than that of the scaffolds generated with agarose and deionized water. The porosities of silk fibroin scaffolds containing agarose gel at 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 2.0% [w/v] were 110.9%, 111.7%, 120.9%, and 123.0%, respectively. Lastly, the internal space generated in scaffolds after dissolution of the agarose gel provides a good environment for cell growth and movement within the scaffold.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.145-150
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• 2010

The regenerated silk fibroin with various molecular weights (MW) was prepared by different dissolution condition and the effect of coagulant on the wet spinnability of the various MW silk fibroin solutions dissolved in formic acid was investigated by the observation of wet spun filament in coagulant and the measurement of maximum draw ratio. The observation on the wet spun filament in coagulation bath revealed that good fibers without bead were formed in a high MW and a very high MW silk fibroin samples. In contrast, beads were observed in the silk fibroin sample with medium MW. The maximum draw ratio of wet spun silk fibroin filament decreased with MW reduction. The decrease of maximum draw ratio in isopropanol, acetone, DMF and THF was remarkably higher than that in methanol and ethanol, indicating that the coagulant type strongly influenced the wet spinnability. The two simple evaluation methods used in this study showed complementary information for wet spinnability: (a) The observation of filament in coagulant was effective to check a continuous fiber formation and a bead formation, and (b) the maximum draw ratio measurement was useful to examine the post drawing ability related to molecular orientation.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.197-200
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• 2013

Silk fibroin is a natural biomaterial that has the biocompatibility and other many advantages. But as a silk fibroin membrane thickness increases, the transparency becomes more opaque. Because the transparency of membranes tissue such as the cornea and dura mater are necessary, transparent membrane is required to replace these transparent membranes. In this study, we fabricated blending silk fibroin membranes that made by mixing the various inorganic salts or polymer in an aqueous solution of silk fibroin. The transparency of the membranes were analyzed. the transparency of these membranes is very different, depending on the mixed materials. Inorganic salts mixed silk membrane was more transparent than the polymer mixed one. Especially, the silk fibroin membrane with calcium chloride was very transparent. We showed the possibility of blending silk fibroin membrane, which can be used in perfect transparent membrane such as the cornea. In the future, we expect that the transparent blending silk fibroin membrane can be used in various medical applications.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.73-78
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• 1997

The crystalline fraction of silk fibroin (Fcp) was obtained from the aqueous solution of silk fibroin hydrolyzed by $\alpha$-chymotrypsin. The molecular weight of Fcp was found approximately 7000 by using high speed GPC. On the other hand, a high molecular weight of PIFcp product could be obtained by the reverse reaction of enzymatic proteolysis of Fcp precipitates. Some parts of this PIFcp have the molecular weights of approximately 17000 and 24000. As a result of x-ray diffraction analysis, the crystal structure of Fcp and PIFcp was turned out silk-II type and silk-I type, respectively. Upon the reverse reaction of enzymatic protelysis, the structural transition occured from silk-II type to silk-I type crystal for the most of Fcp precipitates. It was confirmed that PIFcp might be somewhat stable crystal structure of silk-I type according to the thermal analysis as well as x-ray diffraction method.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.28-32
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• 2020

Recently, many studies have been undertaken on the wet spinning and electrospinning of silk because wet-spun fibers and electrospun webs of silk can be applied in the biomedical and cosmetic fields owing to the good biocompatibility of silk. The rheological properties of silk solution are important because they strongly affect the spinning performance of the silk solution and the structures of resultant fibrous materials. Therefore, as a preliminary study on the effect of solvent composition on the rheological properties of silk fibroin (SF) solution and structure of the resultant film, in the reported work, methanol was added to the SF formic acid solution. A small amount of methanol (i.e. 2%) added to the SF formic acid solution significantly altered the rheological properties of the solution: its shear viscosity increased by 10 folds at low shear and decreased on increasing the shear rate, demonstrating shear thinning behavior of the SF solution. Dynamic tests for the SF solution indicated that the addition of 2% methanol altered the viscous state of the SF formic acid solution to elastic. However, the molecular conformation (i.e. β-sheet conformation) of the regenerated SF film cast from formic acid remained unchanged on the addition of 2% methanol.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.265-270
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• 2013

Dialysis is the rate-limiting step in the preparation of aqueous silk fibroin (SF) solution. However, the traditional practice of dialyzing SF solution for at least 48 h to remove LiBr is not based on empirical evidence. The aim of the present study was to systematically measure LiBr content in SF solutions dialyzed for varying lengths of time and assess the potential toxicity of residual lithium ions in cells. Complete removal of lithium ions was not achieved even after 72 h of dialysis, with a residual lithium ion content in the solution of 22.85 mg/l. SF films prepared from solutions dialyzed for 8 and 24 h had predominantly random coil or b-sheet structures, respectively. The residual lithium had little cytotoxicity in NIH3T3 fibroblast cells, but viability was compromised in cells grown on SF film prepared from solution dialyzed for 24 h.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.183-186
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• 2011

The various molecular weight (MW) regenerated silk fibroins were prepared with different dissolution condition and the effect of MW on the gelation behavior of regenerated aqueous silk fibroin (SF) solution was investigated. The result of gelation time measurement indicated that the gelation of SF aqueous solution was accelerated by the increase of MW and SF concentration. When formic acid was added in SF aqueous solution, the gelation time of SFL and SFC30 aqueous solution showed a significant decreaseat 0.03% formic acid addition. In case of the lowest MW sample, SFC180, SF molecules became aggregated and precipitated without gelation after 28 days storage time. These findings indicate that MW control of SF can be utilized to control the gelation time of SF aqueous solution.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.265-266
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• 2001

Solubilized silk fibroin by salt can be further processed by dialysis. The solution was dialyzed by continuous distilled water. The dialysis kinetics of silk fibroin was investigated.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.75-80
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• 2015

The wet spinning of silk solution has attracted researchers' attention because of 1) unique properties of silk as a biomedical material and 2) easy control of the structure and properties of the regenerated silk fiber. Recently, studies have reported that different silkworm varieties produce silk with differences in the molecular weight (MW) and other mechanical properties of the regenerated silk fibroin (SF) film. In this study, we look at the effect of different Bombyx mori varieties on the wet spinning of SF. Although five regenerated SFs from different silkworm varieties have different MWs and solution viscosity, the wet spinnability and post drawing performance of regenerated SFs were not different. This result is due to low variability in the MW of the regenerated SF samples from the different silkworm varieties. In addition, unlike regenerated SF films, the mechanical properties of wet spun regenerated SF filament were not affected by silkworm variety. This result suggests that the mechanical properties of wet spun SF filament are less affected by MW than those of SF film are.