Characterization of tetracycline-loaded thai silk fibroin/gelatin blend films

This study was aimed to prepare SF/G blend films loaded tetracycline by a solvent evaporation method. Firstly silk cocoons were degummed and then dissolved by CaCl2:Ethanol:H20 (1:2:8 by mole). On another way, Gelatin (G) was prepared from gelatin powder. The mixture solution of SF/G ratios with 3:0, 2:1,1:1, 1:2 and 0:3 were prepared before casting on the 5 cm polystyrene plates. All of films were investigated their morphology, chemical structures, thermal properties and percent transparency by using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Thermogravimetric Analyzer (TA) and UV-Vis spectrometer, respectively. The results found that the surfaces of blend films were gradually smooth without phase separation when the SF component decreased. The FTIR results of SF/G films showed strong regions for amide I, amide II and amide III which were the mixture characteristics of SF and G. The blend films rapidly decomposed in maximum rate after 300°C. The rate of weight lost depending on the content G meanwhile rapidly increased of weight lost when the G content was increased. The heat flow curves indicated that the blend films composed of multiple peaks of maximum decomposition temperatures as well as endo/exo-thermic. Finally, tetracycline could be interacted with G in excellent profile affected to the lowest of percent transparency. © 2010 Asian Network for Scientific Information.