PMID- 38101558
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20240102
LR  - 20240106
IS  - 1878-7568 (Electronic)
IS  - 1742-7061 (Linking)
VI  - 174
DP  - 2024 Jan 15
TI  - Liquid crystalline composite hydrogels with large pH-triggered anisotropic 
      swelling for embolotherapy.
PG  - 206-216
LID - S1742-7061(23)00720-1 [pii]
LID - 10.1016/j.actbio.2023.12.016 [doi]
AB  - Inspired by the anisotropic structure of biological tissues, anisotropic 
      hydrogels have been developed using various nanofillers, however, it remains a 
      big challenge to synthesize hydrogels with large swelling anisotropy. Herein a 
      single molecule filler, alpha-helical polypeptide, instead of nanoscale fillers, was 
      used to synthesize anisotropic hydrogels. First nematic liquid crystal of 
      poly(gamma-benzyl l-glutamate) (PBLG) was prepared by shearing and stabilized by 
      embedding in a crosslinked polymer matrix. The resulting PBLG composite gels were 
      then converted to poly(L-glutamic acid) (PLGA) composite gels by debenzylation. 
      The rigid rod-like structure of alpha-helical PBLG chains makes them easy to be 
      orientated. The pH-sensitivity of PLGA makes the resulting composite gels 
      pH-sensitive without the need to couple with a stimuli-responsive hydrogel 
      matrix. In response to pH change PLGA composite gels swell anisotropically with a 
      much larger swelling degree in the radial direction than in the axial direction. 
      The swelling anisotropy (3.43) is much higher than most anisotropic hydrogels, 
      particularly the stimuli-responsive ones reported previously. The composite gel 
      also exhibits anisotropic mechanical properties with a larger Young's modulus in 
      the axial direction than that in the radial direction. Preliminary test 
      demonstrated that the composite gels have potential in embolotherapy thanks to 
      its large pH-triggered anisotropic swelling. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: 
      Anisotropic hydrogels have important biomedical applications. Introduction of 
      oriented nanofillers has been demonstrated a popular and versatile method for 
      their synthesis, however, it remains a big challenge to achieve large swelling 
      anisotropy. Herein a single molecule filler, alpha-helical polypeptide, instead of 
      nanoscale fillers, was used to synthesize anisotropic hydrogels. This filler can 
      be easily oriented by shearing. More importantly, as single molecule filler, it 
      can constrain the swelling of hydrogel matrix more effectively. Using this 
      filler, a pH-sensitive hydrogel with large swelling anisotropy (3.43) was 
      successfully synthesized. Thanks to its large pH-triggered anisotropic swelling 
      the hydrogel was successfully used as embolic agent to occlude vessels.
CI  - Copyright (c) 2023 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights 
      reserved.
FAU - Zhang, Yujie
AU  - Zhang Y
AD  - State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, School of 
      Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China.
FAU - Luo, Ying
AU  - Luo Y
AD  - State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, School of 
      Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China.
FAU - Gao, Sijia
AU  - Gao S
AD  - State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, School of 
      Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China.
FAU - Zou, Lei
AU  - Zou L
AD  - State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, School of 
      Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China.
FAU - Guan, Ying
AU  - Guan Y
AD  - Institute of Polymer Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 
      300071, China. Electronic address: yingguan@nankai.edu.cn.
FAU - Zhang, Yongjun
AU  - Zhang Y
AD  - State Key Laboratory of Separation Membranes and Membrane Processes, School of 
      Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tiangong University, Tianjin 300387, China; Cangzhou 
      Institute of Tiangong University, Cangzhou 061000, China. Electronic address: 
      zhangyj@tiangong.edu.cn.
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20231214
PL  - England
TA  - Acta Biomater
JT  - Acta biomaterialia
JID - 101233144
RN  - 0 (Hydrogels)
RN  - 0 (Peptides)
SB  - IM
MH  - Hydrogels/chemistry
MH  - Anisotropy
MH  - *Liquid Crystals
MH  - *Embolization, Therapeutic
MH  - Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
MH  - Peptides
OTO - NOTNLM
OT  - Anisotropic swelling
OT  - Embolotherapy
OT  - Hydrogels
OT  - Peptide
OT  - alpha-helix
COIS- Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known 
      competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared 
      to influence the work reported in this paper.
EDAT- 2023/12/16 11:43
MHDA- 2024/01/02 11:45
CRDT- 2023/12/15 19:28
PHST- 2023/08/31 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2023/12/07 00:00 [revised]
PHST- 2023/12/07 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2024/01/02 11:45 [medline]
PHST- 2023/12/16 11:43 [pubmed]
PHST- 2023/12/15 19:28 [entrez]
AID - S1742-7061(23)00720-1 [pii]
AID - 10.1016/j.actbio.2023.12.016 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Acta Biomater. 2024 Jan 15;174:206-216. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2023.12.016. Epub 
      2023 Dec 14.