Feasibility of wet spinning of silk-inspired polyurethane elastic biofiber

Two types of water-insoluble protein from Bombyx mori silkworm, degummed and undegummed superfine silk powders, were prepared through a physical method. Water-soluble superfine silk fibroin powder was obtained from salt-dissolved, dialyzed and freeze-dried silk fibroin. These three types of superfine silk powders were blended with solution of commercially available biomedical grade segmented polyurethane (PU) to prepare elastic biofiber by a wet-spinning process. The objective of the current study was to identify the feasibility of wet spinning of polyurethane/superfine silk powder blend elastic biofiber, and analyse and compare the mechanical properties of the as-spun biofibers. Superfine silk fibroin powders and PU were dispersed in dimethyl formamide (DMF) and the dope solution exhibited good fiber formation in a warm distilled water coagulation bath. The superfine silk powder/PU blend fiber had a smooth surface, dense structure, and considerably high strength with a circular cross-section. The future further investigation will be carried out to analyse in detail the structure and morphology of the as-spun fiber. The silk-inspired biomedical polyurethane biofiber showed potential as a biomaterial for small-diameter artificial vascular scaffolds. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.