Spider Silk: Wonder Material Used to Heal the Human Body

By: Robin Fearon

Spider silk is one of nature's wonder materials, more flexible than nylon, thinner than a human hair, and, for its weight, stronger than steel. Webs and nests are spun (spin vt.纺织；） from this incredible（不可思议的） natural protein（/ˈprəʊtiːn/蛋白质） and spiders use thin threads to glide through the air and escape from predators. Now science is looking to exploit silk's properties（利用丝的属性） as a way to deliver medicines and heal our bodies.

July 29, 2020

The medicinal benefits of raw spider silk have been known for centuries. Ancient Greeks and Romans cleaned wounds with honey and vinegar and then used balled-up spider webs to stop the bleeding.

A Web of Innovation

Artificial spider silk（人造蜘蛛丝） is being explored as an environmentally friendly material that could revolutionize engineering, textiles（ˈtekstaɪl，纺织品，纺织业）, and aircraft production, but its use as a bioactive material（生物活性材料） in drug delivery and tissue regeneration（组织再生） are relatively new concepts. Synthetic silk's properties mean it is strong and flexible enough to be used in artificial ligaments（韧带）, surgical sutures（/'sutʃə:s/手术缝合线）, and cell scaffolds（/ˈskæfəʊld/支架，脚手架） for tissue repair.

But producing the necessary quantities of silk for human medicine is difficult. Spiders are cannibal（食肉的） species and cannot be farmed in the same way as silkworms. So one firm uses silkworms genetically modified（转基因的） to create spider silks. Another research group has spliced arachnid（/əˈræknɪd/蛛形纲动物的） genes into E.coli bacteria to produce a more elastic （有弹性的）but weaker silk fiber.

Researchers are now harnessing （利用）silk produced by the E.coli bacteria （大肠杆菌）to create a biodegradable mesh（生物可降解网） that can accelerate（/əkˈseləreɪt/ vt.加速）tissue growth. Decorating the fibers with antibiotics（抗生素） means patients can be given controlled release to fight infection in slow-healing wounds.

But far and away the most bizarre（奇怪的） production method is Utah State University's use of transgenic （ˌ/trænzˈdʒenɪk/ 转基因的）goats, whose genes are altered to allow them to produce spider silk in their milk. Future applications of the goat silk include gels, glues, and coatings for medical implants.

Spin and Weave

Spinning is yet another challenge in creating synthetic（/sɪnˈθetɪk/合成的；人造的） silk. Spiders naturally produce up to seven different types depending on which glands （腺体）they use and the way they spin it. Human attempts to imitate these processes have included manipulating（manipulate操纵；假造） silks using microfluidic systems（微流体系统）, combining chemicals using wet-spinning to create silk polymers（高分子聚合物）, and electrospinning, which uses an electric charge to draw out silk threads.

Harsh chemicals（刺激性化学物质） in these processes can make silk polymers unusable in medical products. But a team at a Swedish university has created bioactive silk proteins by placing droplets on top of microscopic silicon pillars to form three different types – nanowires（纳米线） for use in cancer treatment, coatings to detect biomarkers, and sheets for use in scaffolds to promote cell growth.

Robotically teasing（tease 戏弄；逗弄） out silk from a hydrogel（/ˈhaɪdrəˌdʒel/，水凝胶） is another option to scale up production quickly. Now scientists from a Japanese institute devoted to sustainable manufacturing has created what it calls a microbial cell factory using marine bacteria and photosynthesis(/ˌfəʊtəʊˈsɪnθəsɪs/光合作用）.

To produce their synthetic dragline silk – used by spiders in web building for its strength – they genetically modified the purple bacteria Rhodovulum sulfidophilum to make silk using only seawater, salt, nitrogen gas, yeast, and light. The whole process is carbon neutral（碳中和的，碳平衡的） and could lead to huge volumes being produced without any environmental impact.

Dragline silk is the component （组成部分）of another groundbreaking （开创性的；突破性的）medical technology – biolenses that can be used to image the human body. Researchers collected silk from a species known as the daddy-long-legs spider and treated it with resin(/ˈrezɪn/树脂）. As the resin set on the fiber, it created a high-precision optical lens（高精准度光学透镜）.

In the future, this technique could be used to enable high-resolution imaging（高分辨率成像） inside biological tissue and the human body.

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