Chemical and photochemical DNA "gears" reversibly control stiffness, shape-memory, self-healing and controlled release properties of polyacrylamide hydrogels.

ABSTRACT: A new class of stimuli-responsive DNA-based polyacrylamide hydrogels is described. They consist of glucosamine-boronate ester-crosslinked polyacrylamide chains being cooperatively bridged by stimuli-responsive nucleic acids. The triggered closure and dissociation of the stimuli-responsive units lead to switchable stiffness properties of the hydrogel. One hydrogel includes glucosamine-boronate esters and K⁺-ion-stabilized G-quadruplex units as cooperative crosslinkers. The hydrogel bridged by the two motifs reveals high stiffness, whereas the separation of the G-quadruplex bridges by 18-crown-6-ether yields a low stiffness hydrogel. By cyclic treatment of the hydrogel with K⁺-ions and 18-crown-6-ether, it is reversibly cycled between high and low stiffness states. The

SUBMITTER: Liu X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6346408 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature