Silk fibroin has been widely employed in various forms as biomaterials for biomedical applications due
to its superb biocompatibility and tunable degradation and mechanical properties. Herein, silk fibroin
microparticles ofnon-mulberry silkwormspecies (Antheraea assamensis,Antheraea mylitta and Philosamia
ricini) were fabricated via a top-down approach using a combination of wet-milling and spray drying
techniques. Microparticles of mulberry silkworm (Bombyx mori) were also utilized for comparative studies.
The fabricated microparticles were physico-chemically characterized for size, stability, morphology,
chemical composition and thermal properties. The silk fibroin microparticles of all species were porous
(∼5 m in size) and showed nearly spherical morphology with rough surface as revealed from dynamic
light scattering and microscopic studies. Non-mulberry silk microparticles maintained the typical silk-II
structure with -sheet secondary conformation withhigher thermal stability.Additionally,non-mulberry
silk fibroin microparticles supported enhanced cell adhesion, spreading and viability of mouse fibroblasts
than mulberry silk fibroin microparticles (p < 0.001) as evidenced from fluorescence microscopy
and cytotoxicity studies. Furthermore, in vitro drug release from the microparticles showed a signifi-
cantly sustained release over 3 weeks. Taken together, this study demonstrates promising attributes of
non-mulberry silk fibroin microparticles as a potential drug delivery vehicle/micro carrier for diverse
biomedical applications.