Wet spinning Of Bletilla striata polysaccharide/silk fibroin hybrid fibers

Silk fibroin (SF) was used to improve the biocompatibility of polysaccharide fibers isolated from the traditional Chinese herb, Bletilla striata through wet spinning at room temperature using ethanol as a coagulant This was found to create a hybrid fiber structure through hydrogen bonding between the hydroxyl groups of the polysaccharide fibers and the amino groups of SF. Increasing SF concentration caused a loosening of this structure due to the formation of SF microspheres via ethanol-induced phase inversion, with the resulting cross-sectional variation causing first an increase then decrease in the breaking point strain of the hybrid fiber. The excellent biocompatibility and mechanical properties of these hybrid fibers makes them ideally suited for use as tissue engineering scaffolds and wound dressings. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.