Lopez Mora Nestor, Owens Matthew, Schmidt Sara, Silva Andreia F, Bradley Mark
EaStCHEM School of Chemistry, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FJ, UK.
School of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FD, UK.
Materials (Basel). 2020 Sep 1;13(17):3851. doi: 10.3390/ma13173851.
The extracellular matrix (ECM) is a three-dimensional network within which fundamental cell processes such as cell attachment, proliferation, and differentiation occur driven by its inherent biological and structural cues. Hydrogels have been used as biomaterials as they possess many of the ECM characteristics that control cellular processes. However, the permanent crosslinking often found in hydrogels fails to recapitulate the dynamic nature of the natural ECM. This not only hinders natural cellular migration but must also limit cellular expansion and growth. Moreover, there is an increased interest in the use of new biopolymers to create biomimetic materials that can be used for biomedical applications. Here we report on the natural polymer poly-ε-lysine in forming dynamic hydrogels via reversible imine bond formation, with cell attachment promoted by arginine-glycine-aspartic acid (RGD) incorporation. Together, the mechanical properties and cell behavior of the dynamic hydrogels with low poly-ε-lysine quantities indicated good cell viability and high metabolic activity.
细胞外基质（ECM）是一个三维网络，在其固有的生物学和结构线索驱动下，诸如细胞附着、增殖和分化等基本细胞过程在其中发生。水凝胶已被用作生物材料，因为它们具有许多控制细胞过程的ECM特性。然而，水凝胶中常见的永久性交联无法重现天然ECM的动态性质。这不仅阻碍了细胞的自然迁移，还必然限制了细胞的扩张和生长。此外，人们越来越关注使用新型生物聚合物来制造可用于生物医学应用的仿生材料。在此，我们报道了天然聚合物聚-ε-赖氨酸通过可逆亚胺键形成来形成动态水凝胶，通过掺入精氨酸-甘氨酸-天冬氨酸（RGD）促进细胞附着。总之，低聚-ε-赖氨酸含量的动态水凝胶的力学性能和细胞行为表明其具有良好的细胞活力和高代谢活性。
