Keratin-based tissue engineering scaffold
US6432435B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 10, 2000 |
| Grant date | Aug 13, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 10, 2020 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY10S530/842
- WIPO fieldPharmaceuticals
- WIPO sectorChemistry
Abstract
Methods for producing thin keratin films, sheets, and bulk materials, and products formed using these methods. One method includes providing hair, reducing the hair such that the disulfide linkages are broken and free cysteine thiol groups formed, separating out a more soluble keratin fraction in solution, forming a thin layer from the more soluble fraction, and air drying the keratin fraction in the presence of oxygen, thereby forming new disulfide bonds imparting strength to the resulting thin keratin film. One method includes reducing hair by heating the hair under nitrogen in an ammonium hydroxide and ammonium thioglycolate solution followed by centrifuging and collecting the supernatant containing the more soluble keratin fraction. The more soluble keratin in this method is precipitated using HCI, removed, and resuspended in ammonium hydroxide. The keratin solution thus formed is poured onto a flat surface and allowed to air dry into a thin keratin film. The film may be used as a wound dressing a tissue-engineering scaffold, a diffusion membrane, a coating for implantable devices, and as a cell encapsulant. In another method, the keratin solution thus formed is concentrated, p…
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.