Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL MACROMOLECULES
Volume 32, Issue 1-2, Pages 36-42Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
DOI: 10.1016/S0141-8130(03)00023-0
Keywords
silk sericin; self-assembled nanoparticle; poly(ethylene glycol)
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Silk sericin (SS) possessing moisture-retaining property was reacted with activated poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) to obtain self-assembled SS nanoparticles. The aliphatic and aromatic hydroxyl groups of serine and tyrosine residues as the reaction sites in SS were clarified by amino acid analysis and H-1 NMR spectroscopy, respectively. From IR and circular dichroism (CD) measurements, introduction of PEG into SS induced the conformational change from random coil to beta-sheet. DSC thermogram of sericin-PEG conjugate suggests that mutual miscibility between PEG and SS chains was poor. Nanoparticles of sericin-PEG conjugate with sizes measured by dynamic light scattering ranging about 200-400 nm in diameter, were prepared by the diafiltration method. Shape of sericin-PEG conjugate nanoparticles observed by scanning and transmission electron microscopes was spherical. The results suggest that sericin-PEG conjugates are self-associated to form spherical nanoparticles through hydrophobic interaction. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
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