Bioactive Peptide Nano-assemblies with pH-Triggered Shape Transformation for Antibacterial Therapy

Abstract

Peptide-based supramolecular nano-assemblies have received much attention due to their importance in drug delivery, therapeutics, and tissue regeneration. Recent developments in dynamic self-assembly have shifted the emphasis toward producing novel nanostructures with stimuli-responsive assembly behavior. Here, we report the fabrication of a bio-nano construct with dual functionality and environmental tunability, offering advancements in wound healing applications. In particular, we have utilized a collagen-inspired peptide amphiphile to fabricate spherical nanoparticles via nanoprecipitation and explored its unique intrinsic stimuli-responsive self-assembling property to encapsulate and release the hydrophobic drug, ferulic acid. The peptide-based spherical nanoparticles demonstrated a dynamic behavior and a shape transition into nanofibers when exposed to the basic chronic wound environment, triggering the release of the encapsulated ferulic acid. The structural transformation of the nanoparticles into the nanofibers provided an advanced synthetic scaffold for wound closure, while the released ferulic acid provided assistance in combating microbial infection to offer a dual advantage of the nano construct. Interestingly, the novel nanocarrier demonstrated an enhanced efficacy in the bactericidal effect offered by ferulic acid. Such transmorphic behavior of the peptide could be used for constructing stimuli-responsive nano-assemblies for overcoming the limitations of hydrophobic drugs in therapeutics.

Cooperative Calcium Phosphate Deposition on Collagen-Inspired Short Peptide Nanofibers for Application in Bone Tissue Engineering

“…The biocompatible nature of the peptide itself and the mineralized peptide was assessed via the MTT reduction assay. 87 As reported in our earlier study, the positively charged peptide showed a compatible nature (∼100% cell viability) with the fibroblast cells at different peptide concentrations. 53 Interestingly, the positively charged peptide showed similar compatible nature with osteoblast cells up to 7 days of incubation.…”

“…At this point, we were curious to check the biocompatible nature of the collagen-inspired peptide and the effect of the mineralized peptide on two different osteoblast cell lines (7F2 and Saos-2). The biocompatible nature of the peptide itself and the mineralized peptide was assessed via the MTT reduction assay . As reported in our earlier study, the positively charged peptide showed a compatible nature (∼100% cell viability) with the fibroblast cells at different peptide concentrations …”

In situ peptide assemblies for bacterial infection imaging and treatment

“…1c). 57 While all of the three types above undergo stimulus-triggered conversion of precursors to monomers, the target-induced self-assembly type directly uses peptide monomers, whose in situ self-assembly is initiated by targeted accumulation in bacterial membranes or specific organelles (Fig. 1d).…”

“…Reproduced with permission. 57 Copyright 2022, American Chemical Society. (d) Representative example of target-induced self-assembly.…”

Surface-Induced Peptide Nanofibers for Selective Bacteria Trapping

“…Driven by noncovalent interactions, peptide self-assembly has received considerable attention for its wide biomedical applications including cancer and bacterial therapy, − tissue engineering, − immune modulation, , and drug delivery. − In this work, we utilized a de novo designed self-assembling peptide to construct a bacterium trapping system with high strain selectivity. As shown in Figure , the designed molecule N-K10 contains a binding domain, a linker, and a self-assembling motif.…”