TY - JOUR
T1 - The Effect of Shearing Force that Influences Structural Transitions in Silk Fibroin
AU - Yu Liu, Ying-Dong Cheng, Si-Yong Xiong, Peng-Ju Li, Yan-Qiong Wei & Mingzhong Li 
JO - Journal of Fiber Bioengineering and Informatics
VL - 3
SP - 174
EP - 180
PY - 2010
DA - 2010/03
SN - 3
DO - http://doi.org/10.3993/jfbi
UR - https://global-sci.org/intro/article_detail/jfbi/4966.html
KW - Shearing force
KW - gel
KW - structural transition
KW - regenerate
KW - silk fibroin
AB - Silk hydrogel has been utilized to deliver drug and growth factor and replace tissue. Therefore, exploring the structural changes of 
silk fibroin for variety of applications has attracted public concern. It has been reported that gel transition is influenced by 
temperature, pH, and shearing force. In this paper, we have studied the effect of shearing force that influences silk fibroin 
structural transitions. After stirring the silk fibroin solution at various shearing rates, the gelation time was observed. To 
investigate the effect of shearing force during the process, the molecular conformation of gel was investigated by CD, XRD, 
FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy. It was found that shearing force accelerated the gel rate, and with the increase of rate, gelation 
time decreased. The rate of 150r/min was more effective to promote gelation. β-sheet structure was formed by the shearing force, 
which was observed by X-ray diffraction. The crystallinity was increased effectively. After being lyophilized, the sample exhibited 
network and sponge-like structures. Remarkable changes in porosity were observed after using different shearing rates. It was 
observed that the higher the shearing rate, the lesser the pores formed.