Evaluation of a series of silk fibroin protein‐based nonwoven mats for use as an anti‐adhesion patch for wound management in robotic surgery

Abstract

Abstract A novel anti‐adhesion nonwoven mat mainly composed of silk fibroin protein (SFP) was fabricated via the single‐spinneret electrospinning technique. A series of SFP‐based electrospun nonwoven mats containing additives of different synthetic polymer ratios, such as pure SFP, SFP/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), SFP/polyethylene glycol (PEG), and SFP/polyethylene oxide (PEO) were produced and compared. All membranes were porous and had diameters of 324.02 ± 113.7, 308.86 ± 74.02, 366.22 ± 115.81, and 341.82 ± 119.42 nm, respectively. The average pore size for each membrane was 1.132 ± 0.99, 0.811 ± 0.424, 0.975 ± 0.741, and 0.784 ± 0.497 μm 2 . No nonwoven mats showed significant cytotoxicity toward fibroblast cells based on the results of MTT assays. Surprisingly, for all groups of SFP‐based nonwoven mats, nitrate formation was reduced by up to 94.55 ± 14.50%, 92.16 ± 19.38%, 91.28 ± 28.375%, and 92.00 ± 12.64% in lipopolysaccharide‐induced RAW 264.7 macrophages model. Tissue anti‐adhesion potential was evaluated in an in vitro fibroblast cell adhesion model and in vivo wounded mice model. In vitro , the mean cell anti‐adhesion percentage of fibroblast cells changed over time in the following order: PVA/SFP > SFP > PEG/SFP∼PEO/SFP. In vivo , SFP and PVA/SFP‐treated groups both showed superior collagen regeneration and wound closure. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part A: 106A: 221–230, 2018.