Study on Silk Fibroin D-mannose Blend Films

The preparation and properties of different proportion of D-mannose-fibroin membrane were studied in this paper. The change of crystal structure of silk fibroin(SF) in the process of becoming insoluble by adding D-mannose was studied. The blend silk fibroin films were casted by silk fibroin solutions mixing with D-mannose at a series of ratios at room temperature. The solubility, structure, and mechanical properties of the blend films were measured. The results show that with the content of D-mannose increasing, the solubility decreases. The blend films became insoluble when the mass ratios of D-mannose /SF are more than 1/10. The crystalline structure of SF is mostly changed into Silk I and there was almost no Silk II structure. Mechanical properties indicated that D-mannose could significantly improve the flexibility of silk films With the good transmittance, D-mannose/SF blend membrane can be used in corneal tissue engineering.