No abstract

The interaction between lightly cross-linked poly(acrylic acid) microgels and oppositely charged peptides was investigated as a function of peptide length, charge density, pH, and salt concentration, with emphasis on the strong coupling regime at high charge contrast. By micromanipulator-assisted light microscopy, the equilibrium volume response of single microgel particles upon oligolysine and oligo(lysine/alanine) absorption could be monitored in a controlled fashion. Results show that microgel deswelling, caused by peptide binding and network neutralization, increases with peptide length (3 < 5 < 10) and charge density (30% < 50% < 100%). Furthermore, oligomer-induced microgel deswelling was more pronounced at pH 5 than at pH 8, reflecting the lower network charge density in the former case (pK(a) for the isolated acrylic acid ≈4.7). In order to describe these highly coupled systems, a model was developed, in which counterion/peptide-mediated electrostatic attraction between the network chains is described using an exponential force law, and the network elasticity by the inverse Langevin theory. The model was used to calculate the composition of microgels in contact with reservoir solutions of peptides and simple electrolytes. At high electrostatic coupling, the calculated swelling curves were found to display first-order phase transition behavior. The model was demonstrated to capture pH- and electrolyte-dependent microgel swelling, as well as effects of peptide length and charge density on microgel deswelling. The analysis demonstrated that the peptide charge (length), rather than the peptide charge density, determines microgel deswelling. Furthermore, a transition between continuous and discrete network collapse was identified, consistent with experimental results in the present investigations, as well as with results from the literature on microgel deswelling caused by multivalent cations.

Proteolytic degradation and release of microgel-bound peptides was investigated for trypsin, poly(acrylic acid-co-acrylamide) microgels (70-90 μm in diameter), and oppositely charged polylysine, using a method combination of confocal microscopy and micromanipulator-assisted light microscopy. Results show that trypsin-induced release of polylysine increased with increasing trypsin concentration, decreasing microgel charge density and decreasing peptide molecular weight. While the microgel offered good protection against enzymatic degradation at high microgel charge density, it was also observed that the cationic peptide enabled trypsin to bind throughout the peptide-loaded microgels, even when it did not bind to the peptide-void ones. With the exception of highly charged microgels, proteolytic degradation throughout the peptide-loaded microgel resulted in the generation of short and non-adsorbing peptide stretches, giving rise to the concentration and peptide length dependence observed. A simple random scission model was able to qualitatively capture these experimental findings. Collectively, the results demonstrate that microgel charge density, peptide molecular weight, and enzyme concentration greatly influence degradation/release of microgel-bound peptides and need to be considered in the use of microgels, e.g., as carriers for protein and peptide drugs.

The importance of peptide secondary structure on the interaction between antimicrobial peptides and oppositely charged poly(acrylic acid-co-acrylamide) microgels of various charge density was investigated for EFKRIVQRIKDFLRNLV (EFK17). Through D-enantiomer (EFK17-d/a; E(dF)KR(dI)VQR(dI)KD(dF)LRNLV) or tryptophan (EFK17-W/a; EWKRWVQRWKDFLRNLV) substitutions, both conformation-dependent and -independent amphiphilicity of this peptide could be precisely controlled. Peptide secondary structure was investigated by circular dichroism, whereas microgel deswelling and reswelling in response to peptide binding and release were studied by micromanipulator-assisted light and fluorescence microscopy, and peptide uptake in the microgels was determined from solution depletion measurements. Results show that peptide binding to the microgel is highly influenced by peptide secondary structure. EFK17-a, characterized by an idealized helix with all polar/charged amino acids located at one side of the helix, and all nonpolar/hydrophobic residues on the other, displays pronounced α-helix induction on peptide binding to the microgels. EFK17-d/a, on the other hand, displays no such amphiphilic helix induction. Mirroring this, EFK17-a displays substantially higher binding to the microgels than EFK17-d/a as well as much larger peptide-induced microgel deswelling. For EFK17-W/a, both conformation-dependent and -independent amphiphilicity effects were demonstrated. Overall, the results show that peptide conformational aspects need to be considered in peptide/microgel interactions, for example, in the design of microgel carrier systems for peptide drugs.