Institute for Cell and Molecular Biosciences, Medical School, Newcastle University, Cookson Building, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, United Kingdom. Department of Bioengineering, Faculty of Engineering, Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University, Karaman 70200, Turkey.
Biomed Mater. 2017 Sep 13;12(5):051001. doi: 10.1088/1748-605X/aa7a89.
The ability to culture cells in three-dimensions has many applications, from drug discovery to wound healing. 3D cell culture methods often require appropriate scaffolds that mimic the cellular environments of different tissue types. The choice of material from which these scaffolds are made is of paramount importance, as its properties will define the manner in which cells interact with the scaffold. Caf1 is a protein polymer that is secreted from its host organism, Yersinia pestis, to enable escape from phagocytosis. In vitro, cells adhere poorly to the protein unless adhesion motifs are specifically introduced. Caf1 is a good candidate biomaterial due to its definable bioactivity, economical production and its ability to form hydrogels, through the use of cross-linkers. In this study, the thermostability of Caf1 was tested over a range of chemical conditions, and an initial characterisation of its rheological properties conducted in order to assess the suitability of Caf1 as a biomedical material. The results show that Caf1 retains its high thermostability even in harsh conditions such as extremes of pH, high salt concentrations and the presence of detergents. In solution, the concentrated polymer behaves as a complex viscous liquid. Due to these properties, Caf1 polymers are compatible with 3D bioprinting technologies and could be made to form a stimuli-responsive biomaterial that can alter its macrorheological properties in response to external factors. Caf1 biomaterials could therefore prove useful as 3D cell scaffolds for use in cell culture and wound repair.
在三维环境中培养细胞的能力有许多应用，从药物发现到伤口愈合。3D 细胞培养方法通常需要合适的支架，以模拟不同组织类型的细胞环境。这些支架所使用的材料的选择至关重要，因为其特性将决定细胞与支架相互作用的方式。Caf1 是一种蛋白质聚合物，由其宿主生物鼠疫耶尔森菌分泌，以逃避吞噬作用。在体外，除非引入特定的粘附基序，否则细胞很难粘附在该蛋白上。Caf1 是一种很好的生物材料候选物，因为它具有可定义的生物活性、经济的生产方式以及通过使用交联剂形成水凝胶的能力。在这项研究中，在一系列化学条件下测试了 Caf1 的热稳定性，并对其流变特性进行了初步表征，以评估 Caf1 作为生物医学材料的适用性。结果表明，即使在极端 pH 值、高盐浓度和存在洗涤剂等苛刻条件下，Caf1 仍保持其高热稳定性。在溶液中，浓缩聚合物表现为复杂的粘性液体。由于这些特性，Caf1 聚合物与 3D 生物打印技术兼容，并且可以制成对外部因素做出反应的刺激响应生物材料，从而改变其宏观流变特性。因此，Caf1 生物材料可用作细胞培养和伤口修复用的 3D 细胞支架。
