Cargando…
Use of Cross-Linked Poly(ethylene glycol)-Based Hydrogels for Protein Crystallization
[Image: see text] Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels are highly biocompatible materials extensively used for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications, controlled drug release, and tissue engineering. In this work, PEG cross-linked hydrogels, synthesized under various conditions, were used to gr...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
American Chemical
Society
2014
|
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4215911/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25383049 http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/cg401668z |
Sumario: | [Image: see text] Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels are highly biocompatible materials extensively used for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications, controlled drug release, and tissue engineering. In this work, PEG cross-linked hydrogels, synthesized under various conditions, were used to grow lysozyme crystals by the counterdiffusion technique. Crystallization experiments were conducted using a three-layer arrangement. Results demonstrated that PEG fibers were incorporated within lysozyme crystals controlling the final crystal shape. PEG hydrogels also induced the nucleation of lysozyme crystals to a higher extent than agarose. PEG hydrogels can also be used at higher concentrations (20–50% w/w) as a separation chamber (plug) in counterdiffusion experiments. In this case, PEG hydrogels control the diffusion of the crystallization agent and therefore may be used to tailor the supersaturation to fine-tune crystal size. As an example, insulin crystals were grown in 10% (w/w) PEG hydrogel. The resulting crystals were of an approximate size of 500 μm. |
---|