Silk fibroin (SF) hydrogels have garnered extensive attention in biomedical materials, owing to their superior biological properties. However, the challenges facing the targeted silk fibroin hydrogels involve chemical agents and shortfalls in performance. In this study, the silk fibroin hydrogels were prepared in different ways: sonication induction, chemical crosslinking, photopolymerization, and enzyme-catalyzed crosslinking. The SF hydrogels derived from photopolymerization exhibited higher compressive properties, with 124 Kpa fracture compressive stress and breaks at about 46% compression. The chemical crosslinking and enzyme-catalyzed silk fibroin hydrogels showed superior toughness, yet sonication-induced hydrogels showed brittle performance resulting from an increase in silk II crystals. The chemical-crosslinked hydrogel demonstrated lower thermostability due to the weaker crosslinking degree. In vitro, all silk fibroin hydrogels supported the growth of human umbilical vein endothelial cells, as the cell viability of hydrogels without chemical agents was relatively higher. This study provides insights into the formation process of silk fibroin hydrogels and optimizes their design strategy for biomedical applications.
Keywords: biocompatibility; crosslinking; photopolymerization; silk hydrogels.