Fabrication of keratin-silica hydrogel for biomedical applications

In the recent past, keratin has been fabricated into different forms of biomaterials like scaffold, gel, sponge, film etc. In lieu of the myriad advantages of the hydrogels for biomedical applications, a keratin-silica hydrogel was fabricated using tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS). Textural analysis shed light on the physical properties of the fabricated hydrogel, inturn enabling the optimization of the hydrogel. The optimized keratin-silica hydrogel was found to exhibit instant springiness, optimum hardness, with ease of spreadability. Moreover, the hydrogel showed excellent swelling with highly porous microarchitecture. MTT assay and DAPI staining revealed that keratin-silica hydrogel was biocompatible with fibroblast cells. Collectively, these properties make the fabricated keratin-silica hydrogel, a suitable dressing material for biomedical applications.