Silk-based materials for tendon and tendon-bone interface regeneration (IMAGE)
Caption
(1) lvl-1: the amino acid sequence; (2) lvl-2: α-helix and β-sheet. They are stabilized by intermolecular H-bonds, and β-sheets are crystallized. (3) lvl-3: β-crystallites. The formation is attributed to intersheet interactions, and several neighboring β-sheets (from different molecules) can crystallize into intermolecular β-crystallites; (4) lvl-4: crystal network. It is composed of numerous β-crystallites, which are connected by amorphous chains; a crystal network is indeed an individual nanofibril. During the process of crystal network formation, shear forces can help to orient the directions of the crystallites. (5) lvl-5: nanofibrils network. Based on the nanofibril network topology and inter-nanofibril interaction strength, silk fibers and non-fiber silk materials are of different fibril arrangements: among silk fibers, silk nanofibrils are bundled along the fibrous axis, while for non-fiber silk materials, silk nanofibrils are interconnected in a nearly random manner. SF: silk fibroin.
Credit
Dr. Xiao Chen and Dr. Zi Yin from Zhejiang University School of Medicine, China Image link: https://www.ovid.com/jnls/cmj/fulltext/10.1097/cm9.0000000000004175~silk-based-materials-emerging-for-tendontendon-bone
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