TY - JOUR
TI - Control of the gelation process of silk fibroin solution
AU - Liu Yuan
AU - Zhang Ying
JN - Thermal Science
PY - 2014
VL - 18
IS - 5
SP - 1587
EP - 1590
PT - Article
AB - In the present study, silk fibroin solution was controlled through a simple  shearing to accomplish the steady and rapid gelation process and the  conformational transition. Antheraea yamamai silk fibroin was formed into  hydrogels quicker than Bombyx mori silk fibroin on the same condition.  Comparing with Bombyx mori silk fibroin, the rapid gelation of Antheraea  yamamai silk fibroin was concerned with its alternate polyalanine-containing  units which are tended to form the α-helix structures spontaneously. The  entropic cost during the conformational transition to β-sheet is less than  that from random coil to β-sheet.