Insights into the material properties of dragline spider silk affecting Schwann cell migration

Aida Naghilou; Karolina Peter; Flavia Millesi; Sarah Stadlmayr; Sonja Wolf; Anda Rad; Lorenz Semmler; Paul Supper; Leon Ploszczanski; Jiliang Liu; Manfred Burghammer; Christian Riekel; Alexander Bismarck; Ellen H.G. Backus; Helga Lichtenegger; Christine Radtke

doi:10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125398

Insights into the material properties of dragline spider silk affecting Schwann cell migration

Aida Naghilou (Corresponding author)
, Karolina Peter
, Flavia Millesi
, Sarah Stadlmayr
, Sonja Wolf
, Anda Rad
, Lorenz Semmler
, Paul Supper
, Leon Ploszczanski
, Jiliang Liu
, Manfred Burghammer
, Christian Riekel
, Alexander Bismarck
, Ellen H.G. Backus
, Helga Lichtenegger
, Christine Radtke

Publications: Contribution to journal › Article › Peer Reviewed

Abstract

Dragline silk of Trichonephila spiders has attracted attention in various applications. One of the most fascinating uses of dragline silk is in nerve regeneration as a luminal filling for nerve guidance conduits. In fact, conduits filled with spider silk can measure up to autologous nerve transplantation, but the reasons behind the success of silk fibers are not yet understood. In this study dragline fibers of Trichonephila edulis were sterilized with ethanol, UV radiation, and autoclaving and the resulting material properties were characterized with regard to the silk's suitability for nerve regeneration. Rat Schwann cells (rSCs) were seeded on these silks in vitro and their migration and proliferation were investigated as an indication for the fiber's ability to support the growth of nerves. It was found that rSCs migrate faster on ethanol treated fibers. To elucidate the reasons behind this behavior, the fiber's morphology, surface chemistry, secondary protein structure, crystallinity, and mechanical properties were studied. The results demonstrate that the synergy of dragline silk's stiffness and its composition has a crucial effect on the migration of rSCs. These findings pave the way towards understanding the response of SCs to silk fibers as well as the targeted production of synthetic alternatives for regenerative medicine applications.

Original language	English
Article number	125398
Journal	International Journal of Biological Macromolecules
Volume	244
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125398
Publication status	Published - 31 Jul 2023

Funding

The authors would like to thank Dr. Stephan Puchegger and the faculty center for nanostructure research at the University of Vienna for support with scanning electron microscopy as well as Professor Bruno K. Podesser and his team at the Center for Biomedical Research, Medical University of Vienna for sharing euthanized rats for tissue harvest. We are grateful for the constant support from Dr. Marion Gröger and her team at the Core Facility Imaging of Medical University of Vienna. The XRD experiments were performed on beamline ID13 at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble, France. We are grateful to Manfred Burghammer at the ESRF for providing assistance in using beamline ID13. We also thank Dr. Robyn Plowright from Newrotex Ltd. for partly providing the silks employed for the revisions. This research is supported by the Austrian Science fund (FWF): project number P 33613. This research is supported by the Austrian Science fund (FWF): project number P 33613 .

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

106002 Biochemistry
106023 Molecular biology
104019 Polymer sciences

Keywords

Crystallinity
Peripheral nerve regeneration
Secondary protein structure
Sterilization
Stiffness
Trichonephila

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10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125398

Cite this

Naghilou, A., Peter, K., Millesi, F., Stadlmayr, S., Wolf, S., Rad, A., Semmler, L., Supper, P., Ploszczanski, L., Liu, J., Burghammer, M., Riekel, C., Bismarck, A., Backus, E. H. G., Lichtenegger, H., & Radtke, C. (2023). Insights into the material properties of dragline spider silk affecting Schwann cell migration. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, 244, Article 125398. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125398

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title = "Insights into the material properties of dragline spider silk affecting Schwann cell migration",

abstract = "Dragline silk of Trichonephila spiders has attracted attention in various applications. One of the most fascinating uses of dragline silk is in nerve regeneration as a luminal filling for nerve guidance conduits. In fact, conduits filled with spider silk can measure up to autologous nerve transplantation, but the reasons behind the success of silk fibers are not yet understood. In this study dragline fibers of Trichonephila edulis were sterilized with ethanol, UV radiation, and autoclaving and the resulting material properties were characterized with regard to the silk's suitability for nerve regeneration. Rat Schwann cells (rSCs) were seeded on these silks in vitro and their migration and proliferation were investigated as an indication for the fiber's ability to support the growth of nerves. It was found that rSCs migrate faster on ethanol treated fibers. To elucidate the reasons behind this behavior, the fiber's morphology, surface chemistry, secondary protein structure, crystallinity, and mechanical properties were studied. The results demonstrate that the synergy of dragline silk's stiffness and its composition has a crucial effect on the migration of rSCs. These findings pave the way towards understanding the response of SCs to silk fibers as well as the targeted production of synthetic alternatives for regenerative medicine applications.",

keywords = "Crystallinity, Peripheral nerve regeneration, Secondary protein structure, Sterilization, Stiffness, Trichonephila",

author = "Aida Naghilou and Karolina Peter and Flavia Millesi and Sarah Stadlmayr and Sonja Wolf and Anda Rad and Lorenz Semmler and Paul Supper and Leon Ploszczanski and Jiliang Liu and Manfred Burghammer and Christian Riekel and Alexander Bismarck and Backus, \{Ellen H.G.\} and Helga Lichtenegger and Christine Radtke",

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year = "2023",

month = jul,

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doi = "10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125398",

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Naghilou, A, Peter, K, Millesi, F, Stadlmayr, S, Wolf, S, Rad, A, Semmler, L, Supper, P, Ploszczanski, L, Liu, J, Burghammer, M, Riekel, C, Bismarck, A , Backus, EHG, Lichtenegger, H & Radtke, C 2023, 'Insights into the material properties of dragline spider silk affecting Schwann cell migration', International Journal of Biological Macromolecules, vol. 244, 125398. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125398

TY - JOUR

T1 - Insights into the material properties of dragline spider silk affecting Schwann cell migration

AU - Naghilou, Aida

AU - Peter, Karolina

AU - Millesi, Flavia

AU - Stadlmayr, Sarah

AU - Wolf, Sonja

AU - Rad, Anda

AU - Semmler, Lorenz

AU - Supper, Paul

AU - Ploszczanski, Leon

AU - Liu, Jiliang

AU - Burghammer, Manfred

AU - Riekel, Christian

AU - Bismarck, Alexander

AU - Backus, Ellen H.G.

AU - Lichtenegger, Helga

AU - Radtke, Christine

N1 - Accession Number: WOS:001035688400001 PubMed ID: 37330085

PY - 2023/7/31

Y1 - 2023/7/31

N2 - Dragline silk of Trichonephila spiders has attracted attention in various applications. One of the most fascinating uses of dragline silk is in nerve regeneration as a luminal filling for nerve guidance conduits. In fact, conduits filled with spider silk can measure up to autologous nerve transplantation, but the reasons behind the success of silk fibers are not yet understood. In this study dragline fibers of Trichonephila edulis were sterilized with ethanol, UV radiation, and autoclaving and the resulting material properties were characterized with regard to the silk's suitability for nerve regeneration. Rat Schwann cells (rSCs) were seeded on these silks in vitro and their migration and proliferation were investigated as an indication for the fiber's ability to support the growth of nerves. It was found that rSCs migrate faster on ethanol treated fibers. To elucidate the reasons behind this behavior, the fiber's morphology, surface chemistry, secondary protein structure, crystallinity, and mechanical properties were studied. The results demonstrate that the synergy of dragline silk's stiffness and its composition has a crucial effect on the migration of rSCs. These findings pave the way towards understanding the response of SCs to silk fibers as well as the targeted production of synthetic alternatives for regenerative medicine applications.

AB - Dragline silk of Trichonephila spiders has attracted attention in various applications. One of the most fascinating uses of dragline silk is in nerve regeneration as a luminal filling for nerve guidance conduits. In fact, conduits filled with spider silk can measure up to autologous nerve transplantation, but the reasons behind the success of silk fibers are not yet understood. In this study dragline fibers of Trichonephila edulis were sterilized with ethanol, UV radiation, and autoclaving and the resulting material properties were characterized with regard to the silk's suitability for nerve regeneration. Rat Schwann cells (rSCs) were seeded on these silks in vitro and their migration and proliferation were investigated as an indication for the fiber's ability to support the growth of nerves. It was found that rSCs migrate faster on ethanol treated fibers. To elucidate the reasons behind this behavior, the fiber's morphology, surface chemistry, secondary protein structure, crystallinity, and mechanical properties were studied. The results demonstrate that the synergy of dragline silk's stiffness and its composition has a crucial effect on the migration of rSCs. These findings pave the way towards understanding the response of SCs to silk fibers as well as the targeted production of synthetic alternatives for regenerative medicine applications.

KW - Crystallinity

KW - Peripheral nerve regeneration

KW - Secondary protein structure

KW - Sterilization

KW - Stiffness

KW - Trichonephila

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85163210764

U2 - 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125398

DO - 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125398

M3 - Article

C2 - 37330085

AN - SCOPUS:85163210764

SN - 0141-8130

VL - 244

JO - International Journal of Biological Macromolecules

JF - International Journal of Biological Macromolecules

M1 - 125398

ER -

Insights into the material properties of dragline spider silk affecting Schwann cell migration

Abstract

Funding

Austrian Fields of Science 2012

Keywords

Access to Document

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