ConclusionMaterial processing techn

Conclusion
Material processing techniques were established to generate
silk film biomaterials for use in corneal tissue engineering. Both
GFP-rCF and hCF cell lines successfully adhered, proliferated, and
produced native matrix upon silk film substrates. In addition,
patterned silk films were found to direct cell and actin filament
alignment. Further work is needed to gain insight into how cell
responses are modulated by modifying film properties. These
changes will need to be correlated to understanding the mechanism
of tissue development on tailored silk film substrates. Silk
films that measured 2 mm in thickness and that possessed microporous
structures completely through the cross-sectional area were
seeded with hCF, and then stacked upon one another to form a 3D
construct. Over a period of 10 days in culture hCF remained viable
and appeared to have proliferated throughout the construct. In
addition, initial native matrix was produced suggesting that these
silk film constructs can act as scaffolding for tissue engineering
applications. Future studies to further assess matrix generation in
long term culture are also needed. Such studies will provide a more
complete in vitro characterization of these silk film biomaterial
scaffolds for future application in corneal tissue engineering. The
results from this study suggest that silk film substrates can be used
singularly or in combination to promote corneal tissue formation
depending on the desired application. Future work will aim to
further elucidate how such silk film substrates may be used for
regenerative medicine purposes, with a specific interest in cornea