Characterizing Wool Keratin

Abstract

Keratin from wool is a reactive, biocompatible, and biodegradable material. As the biological structural component of skin (soft keratins) and of nails, claws, hair, horn, feathers, and scales (hard keratins) pure keratin comprises up to 90% by weight of wool. Wool was treated in alkaline solutions to extract from 68% to 82% keratin within 2 to 5 hours of exposure at . The keratin products were water-soluble and were confirmed to contain intermediate filament and microfibrillar component-proteins of fractured, residual cuticle, and cortical cells. Oxidation of wool by peroxycarboximidic acid in alkaline hydrogen peroxide produced keratin products with distinct microcrystalline structures: descaled fibers, fibrous matrices, and lyophilized powders. Morphology and confirmation of peptide functionality were documented by SEM, Amino Acid Analysis, SDS-PAGE gel electrophoresis, MALDI-TOF/TOF, and FTIR analyses. The reactivity of keratin from wool models the reactivity of keratin from low-value sources such as cattle hair.