Vegetable and Animal Production, Güzelyurt Vocational School, Aksaray University, Aksaray, Turkey.
Science and Technology Application and Research Center, ASUBTAM - Aksaray University, Aksaray, Turkey.
PeerJ. 2022 May 9;10:e13386. doi: 10.7717/peerj.13386. eCollection 2022.
Hydrogels are widely used materials in biomedical, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and agricultural fields. However, these hydrogels are usually formed synthetically a long and complicated process involving crosslinking natural polymers. Herein, we describe a natural hydrogel isolated using a 'gentle' acid treatment from the girdle of a chiton species (). This novel hydrogel is shown to have a proliferative effect on mouse fibroblast cells (cell line, L929). The swelling capacity of this natural hydrogel was recorded as approximately 1,200% in distilled water, which is within desired levels for hydrogels. Detailed characterizations reveal that the hydrogel consists predominantly (83.93%) of protein. Considering its non-toxicity, proliferative effect and swelling properties, this natural hydrogel is an important discovery for material sciences, with potential for further applications in industry. Whether the girdle has some hydrogel activity in the living animal is unknown, but we speculate that it may enable the animal to better survive extreme environmental conditions by preventing desiccation.
水凝胶在生物医学、制药、化妆品和农业领域有广泛的应用。然而，这些水凝胶通常是通过交联天然聚合物的漫长而复杂的过程来合成的。在此，我们描述了一种从一种石鳖物种的环带中分离出来的天然水凝胶（）。该新型水凝胶被证明对小鼠成纤维细胞（细胞系，L929）具有增殖作用。该天然水凝胶在蒸馏水中的溶胀能力约为 1200%，这在水凝胶的理想范围内。详细的特性分析表明，该水凝胶主要由蛋白质组成（83.93%）。考虑到其无毒性、增殖作用和溶胀性能，这种天然水凝胶是材料科学的一项重要发现，具有在工业中进一步应用的潜力。水凝胶在活体动物中是否具有一些活性尚不清楚，但我们推测它可能通过防止干燥使动物能够更好地适应极端环境条件。
