2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
Keratin was extracted from bovine hooves,
TEOS (C8H20O4Si) was obtained from Alfa Aesar (United States),
HCl was obtained from Fisher Scientific (United Kingdom).
For in vitro analysis,
DMEM and MTT were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (Sigma-Aldrich Chemicals Pvt. Ltd.,India),
FBS from Gibco® (Invitrogen, USA)
and 4′,6-diamidino -2- phenylindole (DAPI) from HiMedia (HiMedia Laboratories Pvt. Ltd.,India).