Silk remarkable mechanical properties, comparative biocompatibility, tunable degradation rates "in vitro" and "in vivo", the ease to load cellular growth factors (for example, BMP-2), and the ability to be processed into several other formats such as films, gels, particles, and scaffolds. Silks from "Bombyx mori", a kind of cultivated silkworm, are the most widely investigated silks. Silks derived from "Bombyx mori" are generally made of two parts: the silk fibroin fiber which contains a light chain of 25kDa and a heavy chain of 350kDa (or 390kDa) linked by a single disulfide bond and a glue-like protein, sericin, comprising 25 to 30
Crustacean larva Crustacean larva Crustaceans may pass through a number of larval and immature stages between hatching from their eggs and reaching their adult form. Each of the stages is separated by a moult, in which the hard exoskeleton is shed to allow the animal to grow. The larvae of crustaceans often bear little resemblance to the adult, and there are still cases where it is not known what larvae will grow into what adults. This is especially true of crustaceans which live as benthic adults (on the sea bed), more so than where the larvae are planktonic and therefore more easily