H₂O₂-Assisted Fabrication of Stiff and Tough Hydrogel Using Natural Cysteine-Rich Protein.

ABSTRACT: Protein-based hydrogels have emerged as an important class of materials for biomedical applications. However, these hydrogels often exhibit inferior mechanical properties, significantly limiting their potential applicability. Herein, a simplified yet efficient soaking method is developed to broaden the scope of constructing stiff and tough pure protein hydrogels, using natural cysteine-rich proteins, such as lactoferrin (LF). The preformed, soft and brittle, unfolded protein hydrogels transformed into highly stretchable and compressible elastomers after soaking in H₂O₂ due to chain entanglement and self-crosslinking via interchain disulfide bonds. As a result, the H₂O₂-treated LF hydrogels exhibited an extraordinary ultimate strength (compressive

SUBMITTER: Fan M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12732800 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature