Context: Recently, the scientists at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) have developed Silk Fibroin-based Hydrogel.
About Fibroin 

• Fibroin is an insoluble protein. Silk has two proteins in its raw state called sericin and fibroin. The fibroin is produced by silk worm. It has three chains and light and heavy glycoprotein.

About Hydrogel

• It is a network of polymer chains. They are made of polyvinyl alcohol, acrylate polymers and sodium polyacrylate and copolymers.

Applications of Hydrogel 

• Hydrogels are highly absorbent. They are used in tissue engineering.
• The hydrogels that are responsive specific molecules are used as biosensors. 
• They are also used in diapers and sanitary napkins.
• They are also used in breast implants.
• Injectable hydrogels are used as drug carriers.

Key Points regarding Silk Fibroin-based Hydrogel

• The development is an injectable Silk fibroin-based hydrogel for sustained insulin delivery in diabetic patients.
• The scientists have developed the silk fibroin (SF) formulation using biocompatible additives and prepared an injectable SF hydrogel (iSFH) that can ease insulin delivery in diabetic patients.
• The iSFH has demonstrated successful delivery of active insulin in rats, and the results have been published in the journal ACS Applied Bio Materials.
• The subcutaneous injection of insulin with-iSFH in diabetic rats formed active depot under the skin from which insulin trickled out slowly and restored the physiological glucose homeostasis for a prolonged period of 4 days with no risks of low blood sugar through sudden burst of high concentration of insulin into the blood.
• The microstructures provide mechanical strength (to support injectability), and porous morphology of iSFH allowed the encapsulation of human recombinant insulin in its active form in diabetic rats.
• The iSFH has proved to be an effective insulin delivery tool for diabetic patients with excellent mechanical strength, biocompatibility, encapsulation, storage, and demonstration of its sustained delivery of active insulin in the diabetic animal.
• The active encapsulation and delivery of insulin by iSFH may also have implications for the future development of formulations for oral insulin delivery.
• The current research was funded by JNCASR, Bengaluru, BRICS Multilateral R&D Projects grant, and Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India under Swarna Jayanti Fellowship Grant and DST-Nano mission.