Controllable performance of a dopamine-modified silk fibroin-based bio-adhesive by doping metal ions

Bio-adhesives are essential for wound healing because of their convenience and safety. Although widely used as biomaterials, silk fibroin's (SF's) further application as bio-adhesive is hindered due to its weak stickiness with tissue and slow gelation speed. Here, a dopamine-modified SF-based bio-adhesive is fabricated by using genipin as the chemical cross-linking agent. Furthermore, metal ions have been used to adjust the adhesion property of the bio-adhesive. The experimental results shows that the dopamine-modified SF-based composite holds a better stickiness except slow gelation speed. The doping of Cu2+ and Fe3+ can accelerate the gelation of the bio-adhesive. Compared with Cu2+, Fe3+ has a stronger effect on the gelation speed of the bio-adhesive, which is positive correlative to the concentration of Fe3+. The adhesive has injectability and degradability. In addition, the SF-based adhesive has good biocompatibility and good improvement for cell migration in vitro. The SF-based bio-adhesive holds potential application in the field of rapid fixation of wounds.