Synthesis of composite hydrogels incorporating D,L-cyclic peptide nanotubes as a platform for materials engineering

Abstract

Composite hydrogels find increasing use as biomaterials because the addition of a filler often improves on the material properties of the original matrix, or provides new optical, magnetic, conductive or bioactive functionalities not inherent to the hydrogel. In this work we synthesized nanocomposite gelatin methacrylate (GelMA) hydrogels that incorporate D,L-cyclic peptide nanotubes. These nanotubes are biocompatible, stiff and their physical and chemical properties can be tailored simply by changing the amino acid sequence of the peptide. We show that the nanotubes successfully integrated into the hydrogel matrix and provided some mechanical reinforcement, without affecting hydrogel porosity or hydration characteristics. We will be using this composite system as a platform for engineering hydrogels with unique physical and biological properties to the hydrogel, for application as biological scaffolds.