Wen Connie, Wang Yixun, Lee Kyungsene, Wang Xuelin, Wang Yong
Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
Nanoscale Horiz. 2025 Jul 21;10(8):1703-1716. doi: 10.1039/d5nh00314h.
Injectable hydrogels have been widely studied for the embolization of vascular malformations and the control of bleeding in hemorrhages. An ideal injectable hydrogel in these applications needs to form once contacting with the blood components, which enables easy control of hydrogel formation and injectability. However, this type of injectable hydrogel has not yet been widely studied. In this work, an injectable hydrogel system was developed by using a bispecific aptamer-neutralized enzyme and a triggering DNA. The results show that the system remained in its solution or pre-gelation state in the presence of the bispecific aptamer. Upon contact with the triggering DNA, the system was transformed into a hydrogel state. aneurysm and endovascular embolization were further conducted, and the results showed the DNA administered out of the hydrogel system could trigger the activation of aptamer-bound enzymes for the accelerated formation of the injectable hydrogel. Therefore, this study has successfully demonstrated that a bispecific aptamer-neutralized enzyme in the pre-gelation system can be rapidly released to accelerate the formation of injectable hydrogels when the system is in contact with the blood that contains a triggering DNA.
可注射水凝胶已被广泛研究用于血管畸形的栓塞和出血的止血控制。在这些应用中，理想的可注射水凝胶需要在与血液成分接触时立即形成，这便于对水凝胶的形成和可注射性进行控制。然而，这类可注射水凝胶尚未得到广泛研究。在这项工作中，通过使用双特异性适配体中和酶和触发DNA开发了一种可注射水凝胶系统。结果表明，在双特异性适配体存在的情况下，该系统保持在溶液或预凝胶状态。与触发DNA接触后，该系统转变为水凝胶状态。进一步进行了动脉瘤和血管内栓塞实验，结果表明从水凝胶系统中释放出的DNA可触发与适配体结合的酶的活化，以加速可注射水凝胶的形成。因此，本研究成功证明，当预凝胶系统与含有触发DNA的血液接触时，预凝胶系统中的双特异性适配体中和酶可迅速释放，以加速可注射水凝胶的形成。
