Pawan Mongkolprasit. Preparation of Biologically Active Silk Protein for Cell Culture Supplement. Master's Degree(Biotechnology). King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi. KMUTT Library.. : King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, 2552-12-27.
Preparation of Biologically Active Silk Protein for Cell Culture Supplement
Abstract:
Silk filaments produced by silk worms Bombyx mori typically consists of two fibroin
filaments joined together by sericin, a gum-like material. Fibroin and sericin have
recently gained considerable attention in several disciplines such as biotechnology and
biomaterials requiring starting materials of uniform qualities. Fibroin and sericin, a
biologically active natural protein extracted from silk cocoon, are of wide molecular
weight range displaying different chemical characteristics. The properties and efficiency
of sericin and fibroin depended on degumming reagents and conditions. In this study,
silk cocoons were degurnrned using alkaline solution (Na2CO3), alcalase and citric acid
including heat treatment by autoclaving while Ajisawa's reagent were used to dissolve
both fibroin and whole yellow silk cocoons, respectively. Response Surface
Methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize sericin removal using alkaline and
citric acid. RSM results show that treating with 0.9% Na2CO3 concentration for 70
minutes led to 28% sericin removal while incubation with 2% citric acid concentration
for 94 minutes at 98?C yielded the similar result. Degumming with alcalase using
factorial design indicated that treatment with 2.5% alcalase for 60 minutes could
remove sericin satisfactorily at 28%. Degumming by autoclaving at 121?C for 30
minutes showed that sericin could not be completely extracted with single treatment
(18% sericin removal) while the solubilization of fibroin and whole yellow silk cocoons
was nearly complete in Ajisawa's reagent (77 and 84%, respectively).
Further, it was found that with repetitive heat treatment by autoclaving for four
consecutive times, molecular weight of fibroin and whole silk cocoon including sericin
degurnmed with Na2CO3 changed greatly while that of alcalase degummed sericin
appeared intact. Suspension of sericin as well as fibroin was individually fractionated
using ultrafiltration with 3, 10 and 30 kDa NMWCO membranes. Results showed that,
for the first 20 minutes, all permeate fluxes declined more rapid than fluxes obtained at
the later stages. The larger NMWCO membrane led to higher permeability representing
lower fouling. Result on molecular weight distribution of each fraction indicated that
ultrafiltration could effectively be employed to fractionate sericin and fibroin solution.
Effect of supplementation of fractionated sericin/fibroin on Chinese Hamster Ovary
(CHO) cell proliferation was accomplished using 3x4x5 factorial design. Results
obtained revealed that concentration, types of sericin/fibroin and molecular weight as
well as their interactions excluding an interaction between concentrations and molecular
weight were considered statistically significant on promoting CHO cell proliferation.
Sericin extracted with Na2CO3 showed the highest growth promoting efficacy at every
concentration tested while fibroin and alcalase extracted sericin, commercial sericin and
heat treatment extracted sericin were found to be inferior. Moreover, molecular weight
of sericin/fibroin of more than 30 kDa showed higher efficiency on enhancing CHO
proliferation than those of molecular size of 10-30, 3-10 and less than 3 kDa. Further, it
was experimentally established that supplementation with 0.1% of sericin/fibroin led to
significant higher cell density than those obtained with 0.03 and 0.3%. Additionally,
supplementation with 0.1% of Na2CO3 degummed sericin with molecular weight of
more than 30 kDa yielded better growth promoting efficacy on CHO cells than those
obtained with other combinations of sericin/fibroin of various concentrations and
molecular weight and, at the same time, comparable to that of bovine serum albumin. It
was found be inferior to that of fetal bovine serum, however.