biodegradation of silk biomaterials丝绸的生物降解生物材料.pdf

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2009, 10, 1514-1524; doi:10.3390/ijm OPEN ACCESS International Journal of Molecular Sciences ISSN 1422-0067 /journal/ijms Review Biodegradation of Silk Biomaterials Yang Cao 1 and Bochu Wang 1,2,* 1 College of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Jiangsu University of Science and Technology, Zhenjiang Jiangsu 212018, P.R. China; E-Mail: bestmancy@163.com 2 College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400030, P.R. China * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-mail: wangbc2000@126.com; Tel. +86-023-6511-2840 Received: 16 January 2009; in revised form: 5 March 2009 / Accepted: 9 March 2009 / Published: 31 March 2009 Abstract: Silk fibroin from the silkworm, Bombyx mori, has excellent properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradation, non-toxicity, adsorption properties, etc. As a kind of ideal biomaterial, silk fibroin has been widely used since it was first utilized for sutures a long time ago. The degradation behavior of silk biomaterials is obviously important for medical applications. This article will focus on silk-based biomaterials and review the degradation behaviors of silk materials. Keywords: Biodegradation; Silk Biomaterials; Enzymatic Degradation. 1. Introduction What is a biomaterial? Biomaterial can be defined as any substance (other than a drug) or combination of substan