Effect of Korean Bombyx mori Variety on Electro-spinning Performance of Regenerated Silk Fibroin

The electro-spinning of silk has attracted the attention of researchers in biomedical fields because of 1) the unique properties of silk, including its biocompatibility, and 2) the simplicity of electro-spinning for nanoweb fabrication. Although there are hundreds of varieties of Bombyx mori, the effect of silkworm variety has not been investigated in the study of silk electro-spinning. As an effort to develop electro-spun silk with diverse performances, the effect of Korean silkworm variety on the electro-spinning of silk fibroin (SF) was examined in this study. The regenerated SF solutions showed different viscosities depending on the silkworm variety, which resulted in differences in the maximum electro-spinning rates and diameters of electro-spun SF fibers. However, the crystallization of SF during electro-spinning and the water content of the electro-spun SF webs remained the same between different silkworm varieties.