Spider silk has such a magical effect in medical applications

Release date: 2016-06-24

Spider webs are not only efficient, but also consume less energy. Many spiders can eat the old nets repeatedly and spit out new silk to renovate them. Spiders have survived for millions of years in nature, and we can learn too much from them.

A fake silk clothing made by a Japanese company, Spiber

The spider silk is an extraordinary material. Although it is extremely soft, a pound of spider silk is much stronger than a pound of steel. When the spider silk is spit out, it is a liquid protein that quickly condenses into a solid and is woven into a network of various structures. Spider webs are not only efficient, but also consume less energy. Many spiders can eat the old nets repeatedly and spit out new silk to renovate them.

Oxford University zoologist Fritz Wallace has been researching spiders for 40 years, and he hopes to create silk with mysterious properties for medical care, transplantation and regenerative medicine to better serve humans. . As early as 1976, Wallace published the first paper on spiders, and then published a series of breakthrough studies to explore the unique nature and function of the spider web. In order to study more spiders on the ground, he traveled the world, including the Panamanian Islands and Papua New Guinea, to track exotic species with rare characteristics.

Since ancient Greece, people have used the tradition of spider webs to clean up wounds, thinking that this can stop bleeding and prevent infection. Wallace experimented with this approach. They used spider webs to attach to a variety of animal wounds and found that the spider silk perfectly blends with the tissue.

Wares said: "The spider silk is naturally biocompatible, so the wound does not exclude it." The spider silk can also be biodegraded, which indicates that the spider silk bound to the wound is absorbed by the tissue as the wound heals. “Even the less clean silk taken from the spider web has the effect of healing the wound and there is no need to remove them afterwards.”

Synthesize new materials by spider silk code

Wallace's analysis of spider silk found that spider silk protein has a unique pattern of alignment, which is the source of high strength and toughness, making it resistant to stress and deformation. Wallace found that the Golden Orb Weaver spider can spit out seven different types of silk, each with different uses, of which the traction wire used for suspension has the highest strength. Using this kind of traction wire as a model, it is expected to develop a new biomedical implant with super high strength and endurance like a spider silk as a substitute for traditional implants.

But Walles pointed out that this has to solve the problem of production supply. Because it is impossible to make a large number of spider silks, spiders are carnivores and cannot be raised on a large scale. They can only extract one silk at a time. To this end, they turned their attention to silk. Human silkworms have been producing silk products for more than 5,000 years. Through industrial breeding, the annual production of silk can reach 150,000 tons. But the fly in the ointment is that silk is not as strong as spider silk, but also contains a kind of toxic glue, which is not ideal for medical operation.

After becoming the president of Oxford University Silk Group, Wallace discovered a wild silkworm with a similar structure of spit silk and spider silk protein. He sequenced the silk protein and compared it with the protein structure of the spider wire, then dissolved the silk, removed the toxic glue, and reorganized into a high-strength cleaning material named Spidex. silk). The results of the Silk Group attracted the interest of a large number of business people, for which Volleys founded the Oxford Biomaterials Textile Company to develop commercial applications of spider silk.

Spider silk products into the operating room

In the United States, there are 600,000 knee surgeries per year, costing up to $13 billion, and this number is expected to increase substantially. The current plastic cartilage grafts are not very effective, and some have to be taken out at the end because of the serious complications. Wallace began experimenting with the use of spider silk to make artificial bones, compresses, and sutures, and found that it is a good substitute for knees.

Silk Group has created a second subsidiary, Orthox, which uses spider silk to make a ductile material that can be molded into a replacement knee cartilage structure. It can also be used as a biocompatible stent to support tissue regeneration. "The cells use it as a scaffold, and as the scaffold gradually decomposes, the cells grow into new cartilage and regain their original strength," said Volans. The researchers' idea is to replace the original in five years. Cartilage graft.

At present, this kind of transplant is still in the middle of clinical trials, and Voles is satisfied with the current progress. He said: "Patients and doctors will be very happy. I believe that this graft will be universally available by 2018. Another start-up subsidiary, Neurotex, has also developed a stent for peripheral nerve repair, which is being tested. The team hopes to use this stent for the central nervous system to help reverse the paralysis caused by severe spinal cord injury – another area where more choices are urgently needed.

Medical transplantation enters the "wire age"

The medical field based on spider silk and transgenic silk is full of possibilities, and papers are published almost every day to explore the application of silk in regenerative medicine. Research teams around the world are using a range of innovative technologies to develop new materials. For example, inserting spider DNA into goats to produce transgenic wool, or even inserting yeast, allows people to spin with yeast.

Silk materials can be used in sutures, stents, and grafts, and a large number of implants can be replaced with such biomedical materials. Professor Insup Noh, Secretary General of the Korean Society of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, said: "In many medical procedures, the use of silk will become the standard procedure. Silk materials have been approved for use as biological materials, compared to other emerging polymeric biomaterials. It is a big advantage."

At present, the Silk Group and Wallace's team are studying bicycle helmets, aircraft panels and military uniforms, while they are also studying why spiders can spun silk mesh with super high efficiency to improve industrial manufacturing. As synthetic spider clothing becomes more popular, it can also be used as a new type of pollution sensing device.

After 40 years of rapid development, Wallace felt that the current research is only on the surface. "Spiders have been living in nature for millions of years, and we can learn too much from them."

Source: China Science and Technology Network - Technology Daily

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