POS8-1475
Influence of Photocrosslinking Mechanisms on the Gelation Kinetics of Methacrylated Silk Fibroin
Topic
S8. Frontiers of Functional Polymers in Biology and Medicine
When and Where
Sep 30, 2026
08:30 - 09:30
Room 301 (Grand Ballroom)
Session Chairs
Heesuk KIM
Jinhye BAE
Presenter(s)
Chaewon Lee (Kyungpook National University)
Co-Author(s)
Abstract
Silk fibroin (SF) is a protein-based biopolymer widely used in tissue engineering because of its excellent biocompatibility and mechanical properties. Although photocrosslinkable SF hydrogels have attracted considerable attention, the influence of different photoinitiation mechanisms on network formation and hydrogel properties remains poorly understood. In this study, light-responsive SF was synthesized using glycidyl methacrylate (GMA), and photocrosslinked hydrogels were fabricated using two distinct photoinitiation systems: a Type I system based on lithium phenyl-2,4,6-trimethylbenzoylphosphinate (LAP) under 365 nm irradiation and a Type II system based on tris(2,2′-bipyridyl)dichlororuthenium(II)/sodium persulfate (Ru/SPS) under 450 nm irradiation. Sequential irradiation strategies were employed to investigate the effects of photoinitiation mechanism and irradiation sequence on hydrogel formation. Gelation behavior was evaluated by photorheology. The results showed that gelation kinetics and mechanical properties were strongly dependent on both the photoinitiation mechanism and irradiation strategy. Simultaneous dual-wavelength irradiation accelerated gelation and increased the storage modulus, indicating that methacrylate polymerization and dityrosine crosslinking cooperatively enhanced network formation. In contrast, sequential irradiation produced distinct rheological behaviors depending on which crosslinking mechanism was initiated first, demonstrating that the order of network formation significantly influences the final viscoelastic properties of SF-GMA hydrogels. These findings provide fundamental insights into the relationship between photoinitiation mechanism, network formation, and hydrogel properties, offering a rational strategy for designing silk-based photocrosslinked hydrogels with tunable mechanical properties.
