Visible light crosslinkable human hair keratin hydrogels.

ABSTRACT: Keratins extracted from human hair have emerged as a promising biomaterial for various biomedical applications, partly due to their wide availability, low cost, minimal immune response, and the potential to engineer autologous tissue constructs. However, the fabrication of keratin-based scaffolds typically relies on limited crosslinking mechanisms, such as via physical interactions or disulfide bond formation, which are time-consuming and result in relatively poor mechanical strength and stability. Here, we report the preparation of photocrosslinkable keratin-polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogels via the thiol-norbornene "click" reaction, which can be formed within one minute upon irradiation of visible light. The resulting keratin-PEG hydrogels showed highly tunable mechanical properties of

SUBMITTER: Yue K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5773942 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature