Fabrication of transparent silk fibroin film for the regeneration of corneal endothelial cells; Preliminary study

Dystrophies related to the corneal endothelium result in edema, loss of transparency, and finally, blindness. Currently, the only treatment of patients with these corneal endothelial dystrophies is transplantation. However, the limited availability of donor corneas is a main obstacle to transplanting healthy endothelia. In this study, we have chosen silk from the silkworm to make a substratum for corneal endothelial cells (CEnCs). This approach offers the possibility of overcoming the issue of limited supply of donor corneas. Two types of transparent silk films with different sericin contents have been prepared by boiling for 30 min and 1 h, respectively, as delivery vehicles for application on the corneal endothelium. The contents of sericin for high-sericin silk (HSS) and low-sericin silk (LSS) are 9.83% and 6.25%, respectively. Physical and chemical properties were analyzed by contact angle, transparency, tensile strength, FTIR, and DSC. Proliferation assay by MTT was conducted to confirm the viability of the CEnCs. These results demonstrate that the fabricated transparent silk films have sufficient physical and chemical properties as a possible carrier for CEnCs. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]