Chan Kiat Hwa, Tay Jonathan Jen Jie
Division of Science, Yale-NUS College, 16 College Avenue West, Singapore 138527, Singapore.
Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117543, Singapore.
Micromachines (Basel). 2019 Sep 20;10(10):627. doi: 10.3390/mi10100627.
Peptide nanotechnology has experienced a long and enduring development since its inception. Many different applications have been conceptualized, which depends on the functional groups present on the peptide and the physical shape/size of the peptide nanostructures. One of the most prominent nanostructures formed by peptides are nanoparticles. Until recently, however, it has been challenging to engineer peptide nanoparticles with low dispersity. An emerging and promising technique involves the utility of microfluidics to produce a solution of peptide nanoparticles with narrow dispersity. In this process, two or more streams of liquid are focused together to create conditions that are conducive towards the formation of narrowly dispersed samples of peptide nanoparticles. This makes it possible to harness peptide nanoparticles for the myriad of applications that are dependent on nanoparticle size and uniformity. In this focus review, we aim to show how microfluidics may be utilized to (1) study peptide self-assembly, which is critical to controlling nanostructure shape and size, and peptide-interface interactions, and (2) generate self-assembling peptide-based microgels for miniaturized cell cultures. These examples will illustrate how the emerging microfluidic approach promises to revolutionize the production and application of peptide nanoparticles in ever more diverse fields than before.
自诞生以来，肽纳米技术经历了漫长而持久的发展。人们已经构思出许多不同的应用，这取决于肽上存在的官能团以及肽纳米结构的物理形状/尺寸。由肽形成的最突出的纳米结构之一是纳米颗粒。然而，直到最近，设计低分散性的肽纳米颗粒一直具有挑战性。一种新兴且有前景的技术涉及利用微流控技术来制备具有窄分散性的肽纳米颗粒溶液。在这个过程中，将两股或更多股液体流汇聚在一起，以创造有利于形成窄分散的肽纳米颗粒样品的条件。这使得利用肽纳米颗粒用于依赖于纳米颗粒大小和均匀性的众多应用成为可能。在这篇重点综述中，我们旨在展示微流控技术如何可用于：（1）研究肽的自组装，这对于控制纳米结构的形状和大小以及肽 - 界面相互作用至关重要；（2）生成用于小型化细胞培养的基于肽的自组装微凝胶。这些例子将说明新兴的微流控方法如何有望在比以往更多样化的领域中彻底改变肽纳米颗粒的生产和应用。
