Obtainment and characterization of polymeric nanofibers based on silk fibroin using solution blow spinning technique

• Grant number: 17/22172-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): February 01, 2018
• Effective date (End): December 31, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Materials and Metallurgical Engineering - Nonmetallic Materials
• Principal Investigator: Luiz Henrique Capparelli Mattoso
• Grantee: Amanda Rinaldi Sorigotti
• Host Institution: Embrapa Instrumentação Agropecuária. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA). Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento (Brasil). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Recently, the production and application of nanofibers (bio)polymeric has been progressing in several sectors, especially in the biomedical area. The reduction of the diameter of fibers to the nanoscale, high aspect ratio and specific surface area and, in some cases, high porosity, allow their interaction with the biological environment in which they are inserted, in order to direct the interaction between the cells and the environment that surrounds them. The solution blow spinning (SBS) technique combines conceptual elements of electrospinning, melt blowing and solution spinning, allowing the production of fibers in the micro- and nanometric scales, without require the use high temperatures or electrical voltages. The fibers produced by SBS have a high potential of application in the biomedical area, since they are widely compatible with living tissues, but it is necessary that the processed materials also meet this requirement. In this context, natural polymers like polysaccharides and polypeptides consist as candidates due to the excellent biocompatibility and processability. Among them, fibroin nanofibers, protein extracted from silk, have enormous potential like biomaterial due to biodegradability, low inflammatory reaction and high resistance to microbial development. The objective of this project is to produce and characterize polymeric nanofibers based on silk fibroin through the SBS technique, aiming at biomedical applications, such as scaffolds in tissue engineering, that is proposed as unfolding of the production and characterization of the nanofibres produced. (AU)