Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Zernike Institute for Advanced Materials, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Nat Commun. 2021 Jun 14;12(1):3613. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-23117-9.
The development of biomedical glues is an important, yet challenging task as seemingly mutually exclusive properties need to be combined in one material, i.e. strong adhesion and adaption to remodeling processes in healing tissue. Here, we report a biocompatible and biodegradable protein-based adhesive with high adhesion strengths. The maximum strength reaches 16.5 ± 2.2 MPa on hard substrates, which is comparable to that of commercial cyanoacrylate superglue and higher than other protein-based adhesives by at least one order of magnitude. Moreover, the strong adhesion on soft tissues qualifies the adhesive as biomedical glue outperforming some commercial products. Robust mechanical properties are realized without covalent bond formation during the adhesion process. A complex consisting of cationic supercharged polypeptides and anionic aromatic surfactants with lysine to surfactant molar ratio of 1:0.9 is driven by multiple supramolecular interactions enabling such strong adhesion. We demonstrate the glue's robust performance in vitro and in vivo for cosmetic and hemostasis applications and accelerated wound healing by comparison to surgical wound closures.
生物医用胶的研发是一项重要而具有挑战性的任务，因为需要将看似相互排斥的特性结合在一种材料中，即强附着力和适应愈合组织中的重塑过程。在这里，我们报告了一种具有生物相容性和可生物降解性的基于蛋白质的粘合剂，具有较高的粘附强度。在硬质基底上的最大强度可达 16.5±2.2MPa，与商业氰基丙烯酸酯超级胶相当，比其他基于蛋白质的粘合剂至少高出一个数量级。此外，在软组织上的强附着力使该粘合剂成为优于一些商业产品的医用胶。在粘附过程中不形成共价键即可实现稳健的机械性能。由带正电荷的超荷多肽和带负电荷的芳香族表面活性剂组成的复合物，赖氨酸与表面活性剂的摩尔比为 1:0.9，通过多种超分子相互作用驱动，从而实现如此强的附着力。我们通过与手术伤口闭合相比，在体外和体内展示了该胶在美容和止血方面的稳健性能，以及加速伤口愈合。
