Hydrodynamic Mixing Tunes the Stiffness of Proteoglycan-Mimicking Physical Hydrogels.

ABSTRACT: Self-assembling hydrogels are promising materials for regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. However, designing hydrogels that replicate the 3-4 order of magnitude variation in soft tissue mechanics remains a major challenge. Here hybrid hydrogels are investigated formed from short self-assembling β-fibril peptides, and the glycosaminoglycan chondroitin sulfate (CS), chosen to replicate physical aspects of proteoglycans, specifically natural aggrecan, which provides structural mechanics to soft tissues. Varying the peptide:CS compositional ratio (1:2, 1:10, or 1:20) can tune the mechanics of the gel by one to two orders of magnitude. In addition, it is demonstrated that at any fixed composition, the gel shear modulus can be tuned over approximately two orders of magnitude through va

SUBMITTER: Warren JP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11468938 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature