Minnesota Dental Research Center for Biomaterials and Biomechanics, University of Minnesota , Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, United States.
GIR Bioforge, CIBER-BBN, University of Valladolid , Valladolid 47011, Spain.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2017 Feb 22;9(7):5838-5846. doi: 10.1021/acsami.6b15285. Epub 2017 Feb 10.
Biomineralization of bone, a controlled process where hydroxyapatite nanocrystals preferentially deposit in collagen fibrils, is achieved by the interplay of the collagen matrix and noncollagenous proteins. Mimicking intrafibrillar mineralization in synthetic systems is highly attractive for the development of advanced hybrid materials with elaborated morphologies and outstanding mechanical properties, as well as understanding the mechanisms of biomineralization. Inspired by nature, intrafibrillar mineralization of collagen fibrils has been successfully replicated in vitro via biomimetic systems, where acidic polymeric additives are used as analogue of noncollagenous proteins in mediating mineralization. The development of synthetic templates that mimic the structure and functions of collagenous matrix in mineralization has yet to be explored. In this study, we demonstrated that self-assembled fibrils of elastin-like recombinamers (ELRs) can induce intrafibrillar mineralization. The ELRs displayed a disordered structure at low temperature but self-assembled into nanofibrils above its inverse transition temperature. In the presence of the self-assembled ELR fibrils, polyaspartate-stabilized amorphous calcium phosphates preferentially infiltrated into the fibrils and then crystallized into hydroxyapatite nanocrystals with their [001] axes aligned parallel to the long axis of the ELR fibril. As the recombinant technology enables designing and producing well-defined ELRs, their molecular and structural properties can be fine-tuned. By examining the ultrastructure of the self-assembled ELRs fibrils as well as their mineralization, we concluded that the spatial confinement formed by a continuum β-spiral structure in an unperturbed fibrillar structure rather than electrostatic interactions or bioactive sequences in the recombinamer composition played the crucial role in inducing intrafibrillar mineralization.
骨的生物矿化是一个受控过程,其中羟磷灰石纳米晶体优先沉积在胶原原纤维中,这是由胶原基质和非胶原蛋白的相互作用实现的。在合成系统中模拟纤维内矿化对于开发具有精细形态和优异机械性能的先进混合材料以及理解生物矿化机制具有很高的吸引力。受自然启发,通过仿生系统已成功在体外复制了胶原原纤维的纤维内矿化,其中酸性聚合物添加剂被用作介导矿化的非胶原蛋白类似物。模仿矿化过程中胶原基质结构和功能的合成模板尚未得到探索。在这项研究中,我们证明了弹性蛋白样重组体(ELR)的自组装纤维可以诱导纤维内矿化。ELR 在低温下呈现无序结构,但在其反转温度以上自组装成纳米纤维。在自组装的 ELR 纤维存在下,聚天冬氨酸稳定的无定形磷酸钙优先渗透到纤维中,然后结晶成具有[001]轴平行于 ELR 纤维长轴的羟基磷灰石纳米晶体。由于重组技术能够设计和生产具有明确结构的 ELR,因此可以对其分子和结构特性进行微调。通过检查自组装的 ELR 纤维的超微结构及其矿化,我们得出结论,无干扰纤维结构中连续β-螺旋结构形成的空间限制而不是重组体组成中的静电相互作用或生物活性序列在诱导纤维内矿化中发挥了关键作用。