Núñez Carrero Karina C, Velasco-Merino Cristian, Asensio María, Guerrero Julia, Merino Juan Carlos
Department of Condensed Matter Physics, University of Valladolid, 47011 Valladolid, Spain.
Foundation for Research and Development in Transport and Energy (CIDAUT), 47051 Valladolid, Spain.
Polymers (Basel). 2022 Sep 5;14(17):3683. doi: 10.3390/polym14173683.
This article presents, for the first time, the results of applying the rheological technique to measure the molecular weights (Mw) and their distributions (MwD) of highly hierarchical biomolecules, such as non-hydrolyzed collagen gels. Due to the high viscosity of the studied gels, the effect of the concentrations on the rheological tests was investigated. In addition, because these materials are highly sensitive to denaturation and degradation under mechanical stress and temperatures close to 40 °C, when frequency sweeps were applied, a mathematical adjustment of the data by machine learning techniques (artificial intelligence tools) was designed and implemented. Using the proposed method, collagen fibers of Mw close to 600 kDa were identified. To validate the proposed method, lower Mw species were obtained and characterized by both the proposed rheological method and traditional measurement techniques, such as chromatography and electrophoresis. The results of the tests confirmed the validity of the proposed method. It is a simple technique for obtaining more microstructural information on these biomolecules and, in turn, facilitating the design of new structural biomaterials with greater added value.
本文首次展示了应用流变技术测量高度分级生物分子（如非水解胶原凝胶）的分子量（Mw）及其分布（MwD）的结果。由于所研究凝胶的高粘度，研究了浓度对流变测试的影响。此外，由于这些材料在机械应力和接近40°C的温度下对变性和降解高度敏感，在进行频率扫描时，设计并实施了通过机器学习技术（人工智能工具）对数据进行数学调整。使用所提出的方法，鉴定出了Mw接近600 kDa的胶原纤维。为了验证所提出的方法，获得了较低Mw的物种，并通过所提出的流变方法和传统测量技术（如色谱法和电泳法）对其进行了表征。测试结果证实了所提出方法的有效性。这是一种简单的技术，可用于获取有关这些生物分子的更多微观结构信息，进而有助于设计具有更高附加值的新型结构生物材料。
