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Silk fibroin and polyurethane

Dialybrid’s proprietary technology grounds on the innovative hybrid material Silkothane®, combining biocompatible silk fibroin with a medical-grade, implantable polycarbonate-urethane.

Silkothane®

Silkothane® can be processed by electrospinning in the form of nano-fibrous meshes, morphologically and mechanically resembling the native extracellular matrix of biological tissues. Thus, Silkothane® is particularly suitable to manufacture scaffolds for in situ tissue engineering. With time, host cells colonize the nano-fibrous Silkothane® mesh, adhere to silk fibroin and remodel its fibers while integrating with the thin polyurethane mesh.

Silkothane® meshes can be electrospun in different formulations, with varying weight ratios of silk fibroin and polyurethane, allowing for adjustment of the scaffold’s mechanical properties. Tensile tests demonstrated that the Young’s modulus of electrospun Silkothane® meshes ranges between 4MPa (formulation with 75% polyurethane) to 23 MPa (formulation with 75% silk fibroin)[1].

Electrospinning

Electrospinning is a well-known versatile technique that allows obtaining porous scaffolds due to an electric field applied to a liquid solution, which is delivered by a syringe pump. This simple, inexpensive and efficient technique has been widely used, since its first investigation in 1914, for the fabrication of scaffolds from both natural and synthetic polymers.


[1] Electrospun fibroin/polyurethane hybrid meshes: Manufacturing, characterization, and potentialities as substrates for haemodialysis arteriovenous grafts. van Uden S, Catto V, Perotto G, Athanassiou A, Redaelli ACL, Greco FG, Riboldi SA. J Biomed Mater Res B Appl Biomater. 2019 Apr; 107(3): 807-817. doi: 10.1002/jbm.b.34177. Epub 2018 Aug 13. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30102833/