Toughening of Thermoresponsive Arrested Networks of Elastin-Like Polypeptides To Engineer Cytocompatible Tissue Scaffolds.

ABSTRACT: Formulation of tissue engineering or regenerative scaffolds from simple bioactive polymers with tunable structure and mechanics is crucial for the regeneration of complex tissues, and hydrogels from recombinant proteins, such as elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs), are promising platforms to support these applications. The arrested phase separation of ELPs has been shown to yield remarkably stiff, biocontinuous, nanostructured networks, but these gels are limited in applications by their relatively brittle nature. Here, a gel-forming ELP is chain-extended by telechelic oxidative coupling, forming extensible, tough hydrogels. Small angle scattering indicates that the chain-extended polypeptides form a fractal network of nanoscale aggregates over a broad concentration range, accessing moduli ra

SUBMITTER: Glassman MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4752000 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature