Silk fibroin for skin injury repair: Where do things stand?

Silk fibroin for skin injury repair: Where do things stand? Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2019 Oct 30;: Authors: Gholipourmalekabadi M, Sapru S, Samadikuchaksaraei A, Reis RL, Kaplan DL, Kundu SC Abstract Several synthetic and natural materials are used in soft tissue engineering and regenerative medicine with varying degrees of success. Among them, silkworm silk protein fibroin, a naturally occurring protein-based biomaterial, exhibits many promising characteristics such as biocompatibility, controllable biodegradability, tunable mechanical properties, aqueous preparation, minimal inflammation in host tissue, low cost and ease of use. Silk fibroin is often used alone or in combination with other materials in various formats and is also a promising delivery system for bioactive compounds as part of such repair scenarios. These properties make silk fibroin an excellent biomaterial for skin tissue engineering and repair applications. This review focuses on the promising characteristics and recent advances in the use of silk fibroin for skin wound healing and/or soft-tissue repair applications. The benefits and limitations of silk fibroin as a scaffolding biomaterial in this context are also discussed. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Silk protein fibroin is a natural biomaterial with important biological and mechanical properties for soft tissue engineering applications. Silk fibroin is obtained from silkworms and can be purified using alkali or enzym...
Source: Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews - Category: Drugs & Pharmacology Authors: Tags: Adv Drug Deliv Rev Source Type: research