Aqueous and chemical extraction of saponin of Acacia concinna (Willd.) Dc.: An effective Bio-surfactant solution to extract silk fibroin from muga silk cocoons

Silk fibroin is generated from the silkworms and enclosed in a glue-like protein called sericin. In recent years, silk fibroin has been recognized for its significant biomedical significance, especially in tissue engineering, wound dressing, and drug and gene delivery. Numerous degumming methods have already been employed to extract the fibroin protein from the silk cocoons, which discharges large volumes of toxic admixture of sericin and chemicals through effluents. A sustainable, cleaner and environmentally promising silk fibroin extraction technique of muga silk have been investigated by utilizing the bio-surfactant saponin that has been isolated from the Acacia concinna (Willd.) Dc. in two different extraction processes aqueous extraction and chemical extraction. The degumming efficacy has been performed with respect to saponin concentration, degumming period, and temperature. After the completion of the degumming process, the silk samples were subjected to examination by SEM, XRD, TGA/DSC, and mechanical (tensile) capacity study. This novel and greener degumming treatment was potentially applied to extract the silk fibroin from the silk cocoons in a cleaned state. The toxicity level generated in the degumming process was observed to be very low owing to the adoption of non-toxic chemicals. Overall study ascertains about can be an effective usage of the extracted silk fibroin for medical applications because of its low toxicity.(c) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Silk fibroin, obtained from silkworms, has been recognized for its significant biomedical applications. A sustainable and cleaner method of extracting silk fibroin from muga silk has been studied using the bio-surfactant saponin from Acacia concinna. The degumming efficacy was examined and the extracted silk fibroin was found to have low toxicity, making it potentially suitable for medical applications.