Accelerated healing with the use of a silk fibroin membrane for the guided bone regeneration technique

Objective. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the bone regeneration ability of silk fibroin (SF) membrane. Study design. Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) and solubility test against distilled water were performed with 3 different types of SF membrane (SM1, SM2, and SM3). Subsequently, microscopic computerized tomography (mu-CT) and histomorphometric analyses were performed in rabbit calvarial defect model after SF membrane application at 4 and 8 weeks after surgery. Results. FT-IR showed that the conformation of the SF membrane was a random coil structure and that SM1 was the least soluble. When SM1 was used in the animal model, the groups with SM1 had significantly higher new bone formation than the uncovered control in both the mu-CT and the histomorphometric analyses (P < .05). Conclusions. The SF membrane had more new bone formation compared with the uncovered control. (Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod 2011;112:e26-e33)