Self-Healing, Self-Assembled β-Sheet Peptide-Poly(γ-glutamic acid) Hybrid Hydrogels.

ABSTRACT: Self-assembled biomaterials are an important class of materials that can be injected and formed in situ. However, they often are not able to meet the mechanical properties necessary for many biological applications, losing mechanical properties at low strains. We synthesized hybrid hydrogels consisting of a poly(γ-glutamic acid) polymer network physically cross-linked via grafted self-assembling β-sheet peptides to provide non-covalent cross-linking through β-sheet assembly, reinforced with a polymer backbone to improve strain stability. By altering the β-sheet peptide graft density and concentration, we can tailor the mechanical properties of the hydrogels over an order of magnitude range of 10-200 kPa, which is in the region of many soft tissues. Also, due to the ability of the non-coval

SUBMITTER: Clarke DE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5467180 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature