Spider silk for medicine and sportswear

Researchers want to win artificial spider silk

07/14/2014

Many people are disgusted with spiders and shiver at the touch of a spider web. But the material that makes up the nets has excellent properties: it is elastic, tear-resistant and very light. Researchers are trying to create artificial spider silk that could be used in medicine or sportswear.

Spider threads four times as strong as steel
Many people are afraid of spiders: The animals with their eight hairy, nimble legs, the thick body and their sticky nets are often perceived as scary. But they have a trick that people have not been able to duplicate so far: They can spin threads that are four times as strong as steel and three times more stretchable. In addition, they are resistant to heat, fungi and bacteria and yet biological. Especially physicians have hopes for the silk, because it is very compatible and can be broken down by the body well. Already in ancient times, spider webs were put on wounds. Scientists and companies around the world are researching ways to extract or artificially produce spider silk.

A man-made spider web
The company Amsilk in Planegg near Munich in cooperation with the Ludwig Maximilians University (LMU) is already very far. She presented last year, according to their first spider web made by humans. „People have believed for a long time, that does not work“, said the head of business development at Amsilk, Mathias Woker. It was difficult to win the threads directly. Since spiders are cannibals, in certain species it is considered as „herd“ problematic in the cage. „There is only one spider left every day.“ But at the Hannover Medical School (MHH) that works. There they sit in the former hospital instead of patients „pink“, „The HA“ and around 150 other Golden Spider Webs in the waiting room. These particularly peaceful, about five centimeters large animals are regularly caught and milked.

Spiders get crickets to strengthen
They are taken, on a piece of foam with gauze, taken thread. „The holding thread is used by the spider to attach to a branch, for example. When pulled, it simulates a fall of the spider“, explained Kerstin Reimers, Head of Experimental Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. Then the thread will spin off automatically. „That can not control the spider.“ The scientists milk an average of 200 meters per procedure. „You could probably take 500 meters, but we do not.“ As milking works on the spiders, they become restless after ten minutes. You will then get water and grilling for refreshment.

Spider silk could help with the breeding of artificial skin
The doctors want to help people with severed nerves with the spider threads. They are intended to form the guiding material on which nerves re-grow after accidents or tumor surgeries. „We have completed the preclinical testing“, so Reimers. The method was used in cell cultures, rats and sheep „excellent“ is working. „We were able to bridge six centimeters in a sheep without treating it with our own cells.“ The biologists and physicians now want to start a clinical trial with patients. According to Reimers, "researchers in Belgium and the Netherlands are on a similar path". Almost three years ago, Hanna Wendt of the MHH Clinic for Plastic Hand and Reconstructive Surgery in the specialist magazine had „PLoS ONE“ reports that spider silk may play an important role in artificial skin breeding in the future, significantly improving treatment options for chronic wounds or burns.

Artificial spider silk is being researched worldwide
Meanwhile, worldwide, in Japan, in the US, in Sweden and in Germany on artificial spider silk research. So some experimented with genetically modified silkworms and others tried it with goats, in whose udder the egg whites should be bred. Amsilk and LMU scientists use cultures of genetically modified coliform bacteria to make the proteins. Scientists had in 2010 deciphered the molecular basis of filament production in the spider gland and in 2011 found the mechanisms for the enormous strength of the spider silk thread. But even when the right protein is made, it's a big step from powder to thread. „We have found the way to turn the protein into a fiber“, so woker. But even if the Amsilk pilot plant could spin tons of thread, it is still in pilot operation so far.

Breast implants and bulletproof vests
The company distributes cosmetics with cobweb protein. Woker explained: „It forms a beautiful film and can create a barrier against environmental influences.“ Coated breast implants are the next project. The spider silk inhibits inflammatory reactions and can prevent hardening of the tissue after surgery. „The development of this product is ongoing.“ It had been tested on rats for over a year. In the future, elastic, lightweight sportswear is also to be created. This as an alternative to functional clothing, which is usually made of plastic and therefore made of petroleum. In the military sector clothing could be so tear-resistant that it protects against mine splinters. For years, it has been discussed that spider silk would be suitable for producing particularly lightweight bullet-proof vests.

Spider threads have been in use for centuries
For clothing, the material was already valued in the 19th century. At that time, threads were woven from the threads of the Radnetzspinnen in delicate golden tone. Even the Sun King Louis XIV should have possessed gloves made of cobwebs. In 2012, a silk robe was modeled and displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Unlike in Planegg, the researchers in Hanover make daily direct contact with spiders. Apparently this promotes understanding. „Once you've touched a spider like that, you see it's starting to brush where you touched it. Our skin is greasy and salty for the animals, which sticks - and is probably totally unpleasant“, So the biologist Sarah Strauss opposite the Bayerischer Rundfunk. „The spiders are likely to feel what most people think about the spiders.“ (Ad)