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Self-Supporting Hydrogels Based on Fmoc-Derivatized Cationic Hexapeptides for Potential Biomedical Applications

Peptide-based hydrogels (PHGs) are biocompatible materials suitable for biological, biomedical, and biotechnological applications, such as drug delivery and diagnostic tools for imaging. Recently, a novel class of synthetic hydrogel-forming amphiphilic cationic peptides (referred to as series K), co...

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Autores principales: Diaferia, Carlo, Rosa, Elisabetta, Gallo, Enrico, Smaldone, Giovanni, Stornaiuolo, Mariano, Morelli, Giancarlo, Accardo, Antonella
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8232644/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34203919
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines9060678
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author Diaferia, Carlo
Rosa, Elisabetta
Gallo, Enrico
Smaldone, Giovanni
Stornaiuolo, Mariano
Morelli, Giancarlo
Accardo, Antonella
author_facet Diaferia, Carlo
Rosa, Elisabetta
Gallo, Enrico
Smaldone, Giovanni
Stornaiuolo, Mariano
Morelli, Giancarlo
Accardo, Antonella
author_sort Diaferia, Carlo
collection PubMed
description Peptide-based hydrogels (PHGs) are biocompatible materials suitable for biological, biomedical, and biotechnological applications, such as drug delivery and diagnostic tools for imaging. Recently, a novel class of synthetic hydrogel-forming amphiphilic cationic peptides (referred to as series K), containing an aliphatic region and a Lys residue, was proposed as a scaffold for bioprinting applications. Here, we report the synthesis of six analogues of the series K, in which the acetyl group at the N-terminus is replaced by aromatic portions, such as the Fmoc protecting group or the Fmoc-FF hydrogelator. The tendency of all peptides to self-assemble and to gel in aqueous solution was investigated using a set of biophysical techniques. The structural characterization pointed out that only the Fmoc-derivatives of series K keep their capability to gel. Among them, Fmoc-K3 hydrogel, which is the more rigid one (G’ = 2526 Pa), acts as potential material for tissue engineering, fully supporting cell adhesion, survival, and duplication. These results describe a gelification process, allowed only by the correct balancing among aggregation forces within the peptide sequences (e.g., van der Waals, hydrogen bonding, and π–π stacking).
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spelling pubmed-82326442021-06-26 Self-Supporting Hydrogels Based on Fmoc-Derivatized Cationic Hexapeptides for Potential Biomedical Applications Diaferia, Carlo Rosa, Elisabetta Gallo, Enrico Smaldone, Giovanni Stornaiuolo, Mariano Morelli, Giancarlo Accardo, Antonella Biomedicines Article Peptide-based hydrogels (PHGs) are biocompatible materials suitable for biological, biomedical, and biotechnological applications, such as drug delivery and diagnostic tools for imaging. Recently, a novel class of synthetic hydrogel-forming amphiphilic cationic peptides (referred to as series K), containing an aliphatic region and a Lys residue, was proposed as a scaffold for bioprinting applications. Here, we report the synthesis of six analogues of the series K, in which the acetyl group at the N-terminus is replaced by aromatic portions, such as the Fmoc protecting group or the Fmoc-FF hydrogelator. The tendency of all peptides to self-assemble and to gel in aqueous solution was investigated using a set of biophysical techniques. The structural characterization pointed out that only the Fmoc-derivatives of series K keep their capability to gel. Among them, Fmoc-K3 hydrogel, which is the more rigid one (G’ = 2526 Pa), acts as potential material for tissue engineering, fully supporting cell adhesion, survival, and duplication. These results describe a gelification process, allowed only by the correct balancing among aggregation forces within the peptide sequences (e.g., van der Waals, hydrogen bonding, and π–π stacking). MDPI 2021-06-15 /pmc/articles/PMC8232644/ /pubmed/34203919 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines9060678 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Diaferia, Carlo
Rosa, Elisabetta
Gallo, Enrico
Smaldone, Giovanni
Stornaiuolo, Mariano
Morelli, Giancarlo
Accardo, Antonella
Self-Supporting Hydrogels Based on Fmoc-Derivatized Cationic Hexapeptides for Potential Biomedical Applications
title Self-Supporting Hydrogels Based on Fmoc-Derivatized Cationic Hexapeptides for Potential Biomedical Applications
title_full Self-Supporting Hydrogels Based on Fmoc-Derivatized Cationic Hexapeptides for Potential Biomedical Applications
title_fullStr Self-Supporting Hydrogels Based on Fmoc-Derivatized Cationic Hexapeptides for Potential Biomedical Applications
title_full_unstemmed Self-Supporting Hydrogels Based on Fmoc-Derivatized Cationic Hexapeptides for Potential Biomedical Applications
title_short Self-Supporting Hydrogels Based on Fmoc-Derivatized Cationic Hexapeptides for Potential Biomedical Applications
title_sort self-supporting hydrogels based on fmoc-derivatized cationic hexapeptides for potential biomedical applications
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8232644/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34203919
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines9060678
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