Tuning Mechanical Properties of Pseudopeptide Supramolecular Hydrogels by Graphene Doping

Abstract

Supramolecular hydrogels, obtained from small organic molecules, may be advantageous over polymeric ones for several applications, because these materials have some peculiar properties that differentiate them from the traditional polymeric hydrogels, such as elasticity, thixotropy, self-healing propensity, and biocompatibility. We report here the preparation of strong supramolecular pseudopeptide-based hydrogels that owe their strength to the introduction of graphene in the gelling mixture. These materials proved to be strong, stable, thermoreversible and elastic. The concentration of the gelator, the degree of graphene doping, and the nature of the trigger are crucial to get hydrogels with the desired properties, where a high storage modulus coexists with a good thixotropic behavior. Finally, NIH-3T3 cells were used to evaluate the cell response to the presence of the most promising hydrogels. The hydrogels biocompatibility remains good, if a small degree of graphene doping is introduced.

Smart Hydrogels Meet Carbon Nanomaterials for New Frontiers in Medicine

“…The mechanical resilience of multi-responsive bio-elastomers based on resilin polypeptides was also attained with GO [ 134 ]. Using a pseudopeptide gelator combined with graphene further yielded a thermo-responsive system [ 135 ]. These gelators are attractive not only for their molecular simplicity and ease of preparation, but also for their chirality-induced effects.…”

Self-Assembling Peptides and Carbon Nanomaterials Join Forces for Innovative Biomedical Applications

“…Hydrogels obtained from resilin-like polypeptides also displayed enhanced mechanical resilience upon inclusion of GO flakes [ 183 ], as did those formed from a heterochiral tripeptide [ 66 ]. Alternatively, graphene can be used as a nanofiller for supramolecular hydrogels arising from the self-organization of peptide derivatives, as shown for a pseudopeptide, yielding biomaterials with a thermoresponsive and thixotropic behavior [ 184 ].…”

Creating Structured Hydrogel Microenvironments for Regulating Stem Cell Differentiation

“…The development of well-defined biomimetic microenvironments for regulating stem cell behavior requires a detailed understanding of the nanoscale properties of polymers, cell-matrix interactions, and the application of environmentally and bioengineering techniques [ 21 , 22 ]. In vivo, cells are exposed to a complex 3D microenvironment containing other cell types, diffusible signals, ECM proteins, the ECM’s biophysical properties, and exogenous stimuli ( Figure 2 ).…”

“…Perhaps the most significant challenges that the field is currently facing are 1) stem cell in vitro maintenance and expansion [ 14 , 15 , 16 ], controlling stem cell differentiation into specific cell types that possess in vivo functionality [ 16 , 17 ]; and fabricating multicellular constructs that mimic the in vivo tissue microstructure and organization [ 18 , 19 ]. Developmental biology has contributed significantly to our understanding of the “construction rules,” identifying the morphogenetic directions, both genomic and epigenetic, that lead to tissue and organ formation [ 20 , 21 ]. The field of tissue engineering is applying these insights to engineer neotissues and bioartificial organs with the desired functionalities [ 22 ].…”