Department of Molecular Chemistry and Materials Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100, Israel.
Centre for Misfolding Diseases, Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge, CB2 1EW, UK.
Small. 2021 Jul;17(26):e2007188. doi: 10.1002/smll.202007188. Epub 2021 May 29.
Peptides and proteins have evolved to self-assemble into supramolecular entities through a set of non-covalent interactions. Such structures and materials provide the functional basis of life. Crucially, biomolecular assembly processes can be highly sensitive to and modulated by environmental conditions, including temperature, light, ionic strength and pH, providing the inspiration for the development of new classes of responsive functional materials based on peptide building blocks. Here, it is shown that the stimuli-responsive assembly of amyloidogenic peptide can be used as the basis of environmentally responsive microcapsules which exhibit release characteristics triggered by a change in pH. The microcapsules are biocompatible and biodegradable and may act as vehicles for controlled release of a wide range of biomolecules. Cryo-SEM images reveal the formation of a fibrillar network of the capsule interior with discrete compartments in which cargo molecules can be stored. In addition, the reversible formation of these microcapsules by modulating the solution pH is investigated and their potential application for the controlled release of encapsulated cargo molecules, including antibodies, is shown. These results suggest that the approach described here represents a promising venue for generating pH-responsive functional peptide-based materials for a wide range of potential applications for molecular encapsulation, storage, and release.
肽和蛋白质通过一系列非共价相互作用进化为自组装成超分子实体。这些结构和材料为生命提供了功能基础。至关重要的是，生物分子组装过程对环境条件（包括温度、光、离子强度和 pH 值）高度敏感且可以被其调节，这为基于肽构建模块开发新型响应性功能材料提供了灵感。在这里，研究表明，淀粉样肽的响应性组装可用作环境响应性微胶囊的基础，这些微胶囊在 pH 值发生变化时表现出触发的释放特性。这些微胶囊具有生物相容性和可生物降解性，可以作为控制释放各种生物分子的载体。冷冻扫描电子显微镜图像揭示了胶囊内部纤维状网络的形成，其中存在离散的隔室，可以在其中存储货物分子。此外，通过调节溶液 pH 值来研究这些微胶囊的可逆形成，并展示了它们在封装货物分子（包括抗体）的控制释放方面的潜在应用。这些结果表明，这里描述的方法为生成用于分子封装、储存和释放的广泛潜在应用的 pH 响应性功能性基于肽的材料提供了一个有前途的途径。
