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Engineering of Bioactive Surfaces
Published in Simona Badilescu, Muthukumaran Packirisamy, BioMEMS, 2016
Simona Badilescu, Muthukumaran Packirisamy
Among the many emerging materials, self-assembling peptides show promise for use in surface modification. An interesting class in this category is that of ionic-complementary peptides that contain sequences derived from a fragment of a Z-DNA binding protein in yeast. They have alternating hydrophobic and hydrophilic residues, as shown in Figure 4.22. They can self-assemble into nanofibrils rich in β-sheets that are very stable. These peptides have been studied for applications such as drug delivery, tissue scaffolding, and cell patterning. Depending on the desired application, the sequence can incorporate amino acids having certain functions. For example, for protein immobilization, residues containing COOH and NH2 are incorporated.
Self-Assembling Protein Nanomaterials – Design, Production and Characterization
Published in Klaus D. Sattler, st Century Nanoscience – A Handbook, 2020
Bhuvana K. Shanbhag, Victoria S. Haritos, Lizhong He
This approach uses peptide sequences to promote self-assembly into structures that can incorporate larger moieties like proteins. Unlike the former approaches, the peptide-based method has the advantage of ready self-assembly due to their smaller size, quick response to changes in solution conditions, and the potential to switch between structured and unstructured forms. The basis of many naturally occurring self-assembly systems depends on this potential for switching states between ordered and monomer. Early inspiration for peptide design came from naturally occurring segments from larger proteins or domains with no significant modifications in the sequence. These peptides, such as the K24 peptide derived from the transmembrane domain of IsK protein (A. Aggeli, et al, 1997), were used to study self-assembly characteristics. Later significant improvements were carried out in peptide design and sequence to incorporate features such as stimuli responsiveness to achieve controlled and predictable self-assembly. Today these designed and responsive peptides form a large and special family of peptides called the ‘self-assembling peptides’ (SAP). Another benefit of this approach is the ability to fuse small peptides to larger functional proteins to create functional protein assemblies as opposed to fusing large protein subunits (defined design approach) which may impair the functionality of the protein of choice or the self-assembly ability of the subunit itself. Furthermore, the peptide-based fusion approach can be an easier and computationally less demanding. However, the protein nanostructures formed by this approach lack comparable symmetry and shape precision that is achieved by the computationally design approach.
Design of a RADA16-based self-assembling peptide nanofiber scaffold for biomedical applications
Published in Journal of Biomaterials Science, Polymer Edition, 2019
Rongrong Wang, Zhaoyue Wang, Yayuan Guo, Hongmin Li, Zhuoyue Chen
Self-assembling peptide hydrogels are outstanding materials with the potential to release various molecules. RADA16 not only optimizes drug performance but also provides solutions for drug delivery problems related to lipophilic drugs. In 2014, Briuglia et al. [93] have studied the impact of RADA16 on the diffusion properties of guanlorol, quinine and maleic acid dibutoxide in PBS and BSS-plus at 37 °C. The results eventually show that RADA16 can solve the problem of the release of lipophilic drugs.
Design of peptide-PEG-Thiazole bound polypyrrole supramolecular assemblies for enhanced neuronal cell interactions
Published in Soft Materials, 2021
Sarah M. Broas, Ipsita A. Banerjee
Tissue Engineering (TE) seeks to provide an alternative to conventional treatments by aiming to repair and regenerate damaged tissue by optimal combination of the patient’s own cells with an appropriate biomaterial.[9] Early work has shown that despite the limited regenerative capacity of neurons, when provided with an appropriate environment, neurons can in fact exhibit axonal elongation and form networks.[10] The challenge, therefore, becomes developing a highly functional and biocompatible material capable of supporting neuronal tissue regeneration, that can mimic the highly specific, three-dimensional (3D) extracellular matrix (ECM).[11,12] While current research has shown some success in the usage of natural and synthetic biomaterials as neural tissue scaffolds, there remains a need for development of new biomaterials that can further enhance bioactivity and stimulate neural tissue regeneration. Materials derived from natural sources, such as fibronectin, [13,14] collagen, [15,16] fibrin, [17] alginate, [18] and agarose[19] are advantageous in that they inherently promote biological recognition, support cell adhesion and function, and are more biocompatible. However, they often lack the mechanical strength, tunability, and consistency. While synthetic materials, including poly (L-lactic acid) (PLA),[20,21] poly(ɛ-caprolactone),[22,23] and poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA),[24,25] can be designed to mimic elements of ECM, typically these polymers lack vast biological cues. Therefore, current research focuses on the development of hybrid biomaterials that integrate synthetic and natural components, in the quest to achieve synergistic benefits. For example, poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and poly (3-hydroxy butyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) nanofibers have been combined with type I collagen to achieve proliferation and bi/multipolar morphology in Schwann cells.[26] Electrospun polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)/chitosan nanofibrous scaffolds have been shown to enhance viability and proliferation of PC12 nerve cells.[27] In other work, it was shown that electrospun serum albumin scaffolds doped with hemin and functionalized with recombinant proteins and growth factors supported attachment and differentiation of human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) and upon electrical stimulation resulted in branched neurites.[28] Self-assembling peptides and peptide amphiphiles are also attractive for tissue engineering scaffolds because of low-cost of production, and high bioactivity.[29] For example, RADA16 and RADA16-c(RGDfK) self-assembled peptides have been investigated as neural tissue engineering scaffolds.[30]