Network Growth and Structural Characteristics of Globular Protein Hydrogels
Network Growth and Structural Characteristics of Globular Protein Hydrogels
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DOI：
10.1021/acs.macromol.0c00890
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发表时间：
2020-09-08
期刊：
影响因子：
5.5
通讯作者：
Dougan, Lorna
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Hanson, Benjamin S.;Dougan, Lorna
折叠蛋白质水凝胶是一类新型的生物材料，它联合收割机单个蛋白质的有用的粘弹性与合理设计原则的前景。虽然这些材料的宏观性质已经得到了很好的研究，但对它们的介观形成机制的理解仍然很少，特别是考虑到与生物聚合物水凝胶相比构建块的差异。我们展示了对化学交联折叠蛋白质聚合网络生长的模拟研究结果，这些蛋白质构成了这些水凝胶的结构骨架，观察实验可控参数如何影响所得网络生长和结构特征。我们发现，初始体积分数出现在网络水平的主导参数，但单一蛋白质的属性仍然很重要。我们最终表明，我们可以调整的单分散蛋白质水凝胶网络的性质，只有在限制主要由隐式扩散时间尺度。
Folded protein-based hydrogels are a novel class of biomaterials which combine the useful viscoelastic properties of individual proteins together with the prospect of rational design principles. Although the macroscopic properties of these materials have been well studied, there is a paucity of understanding of their mesoscopic formation mechanisms, especially given the differences in building blocks compared to biopolymer hydrogels. We present the results of a simulation study into the growth of polymeric networks of chemically cross-linked folded proteins that form the structural backbone of these hydrogels, observing how experimentally controllable parameters affect the resultant network growth and structural characteristics. We show that the initial volume fraction emerges as a dominant parameter at the network level but that the properties of the single protein remain important. We ultimately show that we can tune the properties of a monodisperse protein hydrogel network only within limits which are dictated primarily by implicit diffusion time scales.