Synthetic Collagen Hydrogels through Symmetric Self‐Assembly of Small Peptides

Abstract

Animal‐sourced hydrogels, such as collagen, are widely used as extracellular‐matrix (ECM) mimics in tissue engineering but are plagued with problems of reproducibility, immunogenicity, and contamination. Synthetic, chemically defined hydrogels can avoid such issues. Despite the abundance of collagen in the ECM, synthetic collagen hydrogels are extremely rare due to design challenges brought on by the triple‐helical structure of collagen. Sticky‐ended symmetric self‐assembly (SESSA) overcomes these challenges by maximizing interactions between the strands of the triple helix, allowing the assembly of collagen‐mimetic peptides (CMPs) into robust synthetic collagen nanofibers. This optimization, however, also minimizes interfiber contacts. In this work, symmetric association states for the SESSA of short CMPs to probe their increased propensity for interfiber association are modelled. It is found that 33‐residue CMPs not only self‐assemble through sticky ends, but also form hydrogels. These self‐assemblies behave with remarkable consistency across multiple scales and present a clear link between their triple‐helical architecture and the properties of their hydrogels. The results show that SESSA is an effective and robust design methodology that enables the rational design of synthetic collagen hydrogels.

An Organic–Inorganic Hybrid Hydrogel Based on Chitosan for Effective Hemostasis

“…At present, the hydrogel used for hemostasis is composed of synthetic polymers and natural polymers. Synthetic polymers mainly refer to hydrophilic polymers including polyacrylamide, , polyacrylate, , poly­(vinyl alcohol), , and polypeptides, while natural polymers mainly include gelatin, − collagen, , chitosan, − hyaluronic acid, − and sodium alginate . Natural polymer hydrogels are widely used in biomaterials due to their good biocompatibility, but they have poor mechanical properties and often require the support of synthetic polymers.…”

Multifunctional Biomimetic e-Skin Constructed In Situ on Tanned Sheep Leather as a Multimodal Sensor for the Monitoring of Motion and Health

“…Traditional preparation methods of collagen hydrogels typically involved the disruption of the inherent 3D structure of natural animal skin’s woven collagen fibers. This was followed by copolymerizing the extracted collagen molecules with monomers to form macromolecular chains and then reassembling hydrogels through self-assembly or cross-linking agents. , However, this “bottom-up” approach presented challenges such as complexity and inefficiency while limiting the balance between toughness and tensile properties in prepared hydrogels. For instance, Zhang et al’s MXene/collagen/acrylic acid hydrogel exhibited weak mechanical properties with only 211.5 kPa tensile stress and 90.7% strain .…”