Dipeptide self-assembly into water-channels and gel biomaterial

Abstract

Dipeptides are convenient building blocks for supramolecular gel biomaterials that can be produced on a large scale at low cost and do not persist in the environment. In the case...

Nanotubes and water-channels from self-assembling dipeptides

“…We did not include Ala in the studies because our objective was to attain supramolecular hydrogels, and already the dipeptides Val-Phe and Phe-Val were at the limit of minimum hydrophobicity to yield stable gels. 77 Studies of all the possible stereoisomer combinations of Xaa-Phe and Phe-Xaa (Xaa = Val, Ile, or Leu), revealed that heterochirality increased the dipeptides’ hydrophobicity. This fact was confirmed by increased retention times at the HPLC 77–79 (which can be considered an experimental measure of hydrophobicity).…”

“…77 Studies of all the possible stereoisomer combinations of Xaa-Phe and Phe-Xaa (Xaa = Val, Ile, or Leu), revealed that heterochirality increased the dipeptides’ hydrophobicity. This fact was confirmed by increased retention times at the HPLC 77–79 (which can be considered an experimental measure of hydrophobicity). 80 Furthermore, the formation of water-filled channels by heterochiral Phe-Xaa sequences (cyan cells in Table 3) was supported by single-crystal XRD.…”

Self-Assembled Peptide Nanostructures for ECM Biomimicry

“…Considering that the shorter the motif, the lower and easier will be the cost of production, it is thus not surprising that ultra-short peptides are amongst the most attractive supramolecular peptide gelators [46]. In particular, cyclic [47][48][49] or linear dipeptides [50][51][52][53][54][55] are amongst the simplest options as building blocks for hydrogels, however, tripeptides are better positioned for bioactivity. Indeed, it was shown that 25 atoms other than hydrogen constitute the ideal size for drugs and drug-like molecules for maximal ligand-binding efficacy and bioactivity, and this number corresponds to the average number for a tripeptide [56].…”

Histidine-Containing Amphiphilic Peptide-Based Non-Cytotoxic Hydrogelator with Antibacterial Activity and Sustainable Drug Release

“…In recent years, peptide-based hydrogels , have been developed as biomaterials that act as antimicrobial agents for the treatment of infectious diseases . Several kinds of hydrogels have been reported so far, , but there are few peptide-based low molecular weight hydrogels that inherently show antimicrobial activity. − Polycation moieties have antimicrobial properties, but often show a certain level of toxicity to mammalian cells .…”

“…In recent years, this property has been explored to make injectable hydrogels that can be used in localized therapy in a particular tissue. 36 In recent years, peptide-based hydrogels 37,38 have been developed as biomaterials that act as antimicrobial agents 39 for the treatment of infectious diseases. 40 Several kinds of hydrogels have been reported so far, 41,42 but there are few peptide-based low molecular weight hydrogels that inherently show antimicrobial activity.…”