Center for Programmable Matter, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan44919, Republic of Korea.
Department of Biological Sciences, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Ulsan44919, Republic of Korea.
Biomacromolecules. 2022 Dec 12;23(12):5193-5201. doi: 10.1021/acs.biomac.2c01001. Epub 2022 Nov 15.
With the continued advancement in the design and engineering of hydrogels for biomedical applications, there is a growing interest in imparting stimuli-responsiveness to the hydrogels in order to control their physicomechanical properties in a more programmable manner. In this study, an in situ forming hydrogel is developed by cross-linking alginate with an elastin-like polypeptide (ELP). Lysine-rich ELP synthesized by recombinant DNA technology is reacted with alginate presenting an aldehyde via Schiff base formation, resulting in facile hydrogel formation under physiological conditions. The physicomechanical properties of alginate-ELP hydrogels can be controlled in a wide range by the concentrations of alginate and ELP. Owing to the thermoresponsive properties of the ELP, the alginate-ELP hydrogels undergo swelling/deswelling near the physiological temperature. Taking advantage of these highly attractive properties of alginate-ELP, drug release kinetics were measured to evaluate their potential as a thermoresponsive drug delivery system. Furthermore, an ex vivo model was used to demonstrate the minimally invasive tissue injectability.
随着水凝胶在生物医学应用中的设计和工程的不断进步，人们越来越感兴趣的是赋予水凝胶刺激响应性，以便以更可编程的方式控制其物理机械性能。在这项研究中，通过将藻酸盐与弹性蛋白样多肽（ELP）交联来开发原位形成的水凝胶。通过重组 DNA 技术合成的富含赖氨酸的 ELP 与通过席夫碱形成呈现醛基的藻酸盐反应，从而在生理条件下轻松形成水凝胶。藻酸盐-ELP 水凝胶的物理机械性能可以通过藻酸盐和 ELP 的浓度在很宽的范围内进行控制。由于 ELP 的温度响应特性，藻酸盐-ELP 水凝胶在接近生理温度时经历溶胀/收缩。利用藻酸盐-ELP 的这些极具吸引力的特性，测量了药物释放动力学，以评估其作为温度响应性药物递送系统的潜力。此外，还使用离体模型来证明微创组织可注射性。
