ABSTRACT
The aim of this work was to reduce the formation time of fibroin hydrogels used in the production of scaffolds for medical and dental applications. For the extraction of fibroin the solvents were used: lithium bromide and a ternary solution (calcium chloride + ethyl alcohol + water). Modifications were also made to the membrane used in the dialysis, in order to decrease the time for hydrogel formation and, consequently, obtaining the scaffolds. The Tomography by X-ray Transmission confirmed the scaffolds formation containing 73.282% total porosity, with 73.272% of open pores interconnected, and connectivity density between pores of 665,728 poros/mm3. Optical microscopy showed the structure of the scaffolds is made up of wires with a diameter of 24 μm. Through infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) it was possible to confirm the presence of the Amida I, II and III bands, characteristics of fibroin, at the end of the extraction process. The DSC analysis showed two endothermic peaks at 60 °C and 297 °C corresponding to the water release and protein fusion, respectively. The membrane modifications proposed in this work significantly reduced the time for hydrogel formation, precursor of the scaffolds, occurring during the three days of dialysis.
Keywords
Biomaterials; Fibroin; Scaffolds; Hydrogels
