Structure And Performance Of Ornithoctonus Huwenna Spider Silk And Regenerated Electrospinning

Spider silk is a kind of nature protein fiber with the remarkable mechanical properties. It is also a biodegradable and biocompatible material. Ornithoctonus huwenna is a kind of spider that can be cultured by human being. Silk fibers secreted by Ornithoctonus huwenna spiders possess benign potential applications. However, the fibers should be processed for being used due to the tanglesome form of nature Ornithoctonus huwenna spider silk. Electrospinning provides one easy way to prepare a piece of regenerated spider silk nonwoven.The Ornithoctonus huwenna spider silk and Araneus ventvocosus spider dragline silk are collected as our study object. The contents are following:The basic structure and properties of Ornithoctonus huwenna spider silk: The basic structure and properties of Ornithoctonus huwenna spider silk were measured and analyzed by comparing to Araneus ventvocosus spider dragline silk. The results indicated that the Ornithoctonus huwenna spider (OHS) silk with velvet surface and nano-scale diameters contained much more alanine, serine while with less glycine than that of Araneus ventvocosus spider (AVS) dragline silk. OHS silk does not shrink in the water. The molecular conformations wereα-helix and random coil as well as notableβ-sheet structure. Otherwise, OHS silk had higher crystal degree and thermal resistance than that of AVS dragline silk.Solubility of nature spider silk: The solubility of Ornithoctonus huwenna and Araneus ventricosus spider silk in different solvents were discussed in order to find a cheap, low toxic with good soluble solvent. The solvent rations of in AVS dragline silk 9MLiBr,99%HFIP and 88% formic acid were more than 90% , while the solubility of OHS silk was worse, the solvent rations were 10.3%,74.9% and 57.7% respectively.The molecular structure of regenerated spider silk protein: The molecular weight distribution of AVS dragline silk/formic acid solution was measured by SDS gel electrophoresis. The result showed that the molecular weight distribution ranged from 50 to 300KDa. The FTIR spectra of the regenerated spider silk protein films revealed that the molecular conformations wereα-helix/random coil andβ-sheet structure. Moreover, the effects of HFIP and LiBr were the same, while the solvent was the formic acid, the characteristic peak ofβ-sheet molecular were notable stronger of regenerated Araneus ventricosus spider silk film. In the mass, theβ-sheet molecular structures of regenerated spider silk films were weaker than that of nature spider silk fibers.The structure and properties of electrospun regenerated spider silk: The nonwoven fabric of regenerated Ornithoctonus huwenna and Araneus ventricosus spider silk were made by electrospinning. OHS and AVS silk were dissolved in HFIP, the mixture of HFIP and formic acid respectively and the solutions were used as electrospinning materials. The morphologies, secondary structures, crystalline structures, thermal performance and mechanical properties were measured by means of SEM, FT-IR, X-ray diffraction, TG testing and Instron testing respectively.Electrospun Ornithoctonus huwenna spider silk had nicer morphology and stability in water, while electronspun AVS dragline silk shrunk seriously in water which received improvement after being treated by ethanol. There was no change in molecular conformation of the treated electronspun AVS dragline silk, but the crystal degree, thermal resistance and breaking strength was enhanced.The cell compatibility of electronspun Ornithoctonus huwenna spider silk was preliminarily researched in the article. The result showed that the regenerated spider silk fibers had good compatibility with big rat mesenchyma stem cell.