Laboratory of Biological Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0810, Japan.
Department of Biology, College of Science, De La Salle University, Manila 0922, Philippines.
Molecules. 2023 Jul 7;28(13):5274. doi: 10.3390/molecules28135274.
Biologically derived hydrogels have attracted attention as promising polymers for use in biomedical applications because of their high biocompatibility, biodegradability, and low toxicity. Elastin-mimetic polypeptides (EMPs), which contain a repeated amino acid sequence derived from the hydrophobic domain of tropoelastin, exhibit reversible phase transition behavior, and thus, represent an interesting starting point for the development of biologically derived hydrogels. In this study, we succeeded in developing functional EMP-conjugated hydrogels that displayed temperature-responsive swelling/shrinking properties. The EMP-conjugated hydrogels were prepared through the polymerization of acrylated EMP with acrylamide. The EMP hydrogel swelled and shrank in response to temperature changes, and the swelling/shrinking capacity of the EMP hydrogels could be controlled by altering either the amount of EMP or the salt concentration in the buffer. The EMP hydrogels were able to select a uniform component of EMPs with a desired and specific repeat number of the EMP sequence, which could control the swelling/shrinking property of the EMP hydrogel. Moreover, we developed a smart hydrogel actuator based on EMP crosslinked hydrogels and non-crosslinked hydrogels that exhibited bidirectional curvature behavior in response to changes in temperature. These thermally responsive EMP hydrogels have potential use as bio-actuators for a number of biomedical applications.
生物衍生水凝胶因其具有高生物相容性、可生物降解性和低毒性而被作为有前途的聚合物应用于生物医学领域。弹性蛋白模拟多肽（EMPs）含有源自原弹性蛋白疏水区的重复氨基酸序列，表现出可逆的相转变行为，因此，是开发生物衍生水凝胶的一个有趣起点。在本研究中，我们成功开发了具有温度响应性溶胀/收缩特性的功能性 EMP 缀合水凝胶。EMP 缀合水凝胶是通过丙烯酰化 EMP 与丙烯酰胺的聚合制备的。EMP 水凝胶能够响应温度变化而溶胀和收缩，并且 EMP 水凝胶的溶胀/收缩能力可以通过改变 EMP 的量或缓冲液中的盐浓度来控制。EMP 水凝胶能够选择具有所需和特定 EMP 序列重复数的均匀 EMP 成分，从而控制 EMP 水凝胶的溶胀/收缩特性。此外，我们基于 EMP 交联水凝胶和非交联水凝胶开发了一种智能水凝胶驱动器，它能够响应温度变化表现出双向弯曲行为。这些对温度有响应的 EMP 水凝胶在许多生物医学应用中作为生物执行器具有潜在用途。
