Department of Physics, M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, Leninskie gory 1/2, 119991, Moscow, Russia.
World-Class Research Center "Digital biodesign and personalized healthcare", Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, 8-2, Trubetskaya st., 119991, Moscow, Russia.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2021 Nov 22;60(48):25339-25345. doi: 10.1002/anie.202107063. Epub 2021 Nov 2.
The self-assembly of peptides is a key direction for fabrication of advanced materials. Novel approaches for fine tuning of macroscopic and microscopic properties of peptide self-assemblies are of a high demand for constructing biomaterials with desired properties. In this work, while studying the kinetics of the Fmoc-Diphenylalanine (Fmoc-FF) dipeptide self-assembly using the Thioflavin T (ThT) dye, we observed that the presence of ThT strongly modifies structural and mechanical properties of the Fmoc-FF hydrogel. Notably, the presence of ThT resulted in a tenfold increase of the gelation time and in the formation of short and dense fibers in the hydrogel. As a result of these morphological alteration higher thermal stability, and most important, tenfold increase of the hydrogel rigidity was achieved. Hence, ThT not only slowed the kinetics of the Fmoc-FF hydrogel formation, but also strongly enhanced its mechanical properties. In this study, we provide a detailed description of the ThT effect on the hydrogel properties and suggest the mechanisms for this phenomenon, paving the way for the novel approach to the control of the peptide hydrogels' micro- and macroscale properties.
肽的自组装是制造先进材料的一个重要方向。对于微调肽自组装的宏观和微观性质的新方法的需求很高，因为这是构建具有所需性质的生物材料的关键。在这项工作中，我们在使用噻唑橙（ThT）染料研究 Fmoc-二苯丙氨酸（Fmoc-FF）二肽自组装的动力学时，观察到 ThT 的存在强烈改变了 Fmoc-FF 水凝胶的结构和机械性能。值得注意的是，ThT 的存在导致凝胶时间延长了十倍，并在水凝胶中形成了短而密集的纤维。由于这些形态变化，水凝胶的热稳定性更高，最重要的是，水凝胶的刚性提高了十倍。因此，ThT 不仅减缓了 Fmoc-FF 水凝胶形成的动力学，而且还大大增强了其机械性能。在这项研究中，我们详细描述了 ThT 对水凝胶性质的影响，并提出了这种现象的机制，为控制肽水凝胶的微观和宏观性质开辟了新的途径。
