Biomimetic spinning of silk fibers and in situ cell encapsulation†
Jie Cheng,DoYeun Park,Yesl Jun,JaeSeo Lee,Jinho Hyun
Lab on a Chip Pub Date : 05/31/2016 00:00:00 , DOI:10.1039/C6LC00488A
Abstract

In situ embedding of sensitive materials (e.g., cells and proteins) in silk fibers without damage presents a significant challenge due to the lack of mild and efficient methods. Here, we report the development of a microfluidic chip-based method for preparation of meter-long silk fibroin (SF) hydrogel fibers by mimicking the silkworm-spinning process. For the spinning of SF fibers, alginate was used as a sericin-like material to induce SF phase separation and entrap liquid SFs, making it possible to shape the outline of SF-based fibers under mild physicochemical conditions. L929 fibroblasts were encapsulated in the fibric hydrogel and displayed excellent viability. Cell-laden SF fibric hydrogels prepared using our method offer a new type of SF-based biomedical device with potential utility in biomedicine.

Graphical abstract: Biomimetic spinning of silk fibers and in situ cell encapsulation