Biologically Inspired Polymer Adhesives

描述（由申请人提供）：贻贝粘附蛋白（MAP）是显著的水下粘附聚合物，其形成坚韧的键以将海洋生物锚在其所居住的基底上。即使在有水的情况下，粘附蛋白质斑块也能与固体物体形成极其牢固的粘合，这是合成粘合剂通常无法比拟的成就。由于这些性质以及海洋和生理环境之间的许多相似性，在合成聚合物中模拟MAP用作牙科和医学中的粘合剂引起了极大的兴趣。然而，由于缺乏对MAP粘附分子机制的详细了解，这些努力受到阻碍。本研究的目标是采用纳米，微米和宏观尺度的粘附实验，以获得详细的了解L-3，4-二羟基苯丙氨酸（DOPA）和其他关键残基在贻贝粘附中的粘附作用，并利用这些信息来激励新的MAP启发的大分子生物材料的设计。将进行单分子力探针测量，以研究与DOPA和含DOPA肽与代表性植入材料以及硬组织和软组织相互作用相关的键合力和能量。为了补充单分子实验，将使用断裂微观力学方法测试水凝胶表面存在的肽系综与植入材料和组织接触所产生的粘合强度。最后，从纳米和微米尺度的粘附实验中获得的信息将被用于新的MAP模拟聚合物的合理设计。这些聚合物将被合成并作为硬组织和软组织粘合剂使用宏观尺度搭接剪切粘合强度测量进行测试。这项研究将为多巴和其他氨基酸在生物粘附中的基本作用提供新的见解，并将产生用于软硬组织修复，组织再生和药物输送的新的粘合剂生物材料。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Mussel adhesive proteins (MAPs) are remarkable underwater adhesive polymers that form tenacious bonds to anchor marine organisms onto the substrates upon which they reside. Even in the presence of water, the adhesive protein plaques form extremely tenacious bonds to solid objects, an accomplishment which is not often matched by synthetic adhesives. Because of these properties as well as many similarities between the marine and physiologic environment, there is great interest in mimicking MAPs in synthetic polymers for use as adhesives in dentistry and medicine. However, these efforts are hampered by a lack of detailed understanding of the molecular mechanism of MAP adhesion. The goals of this research are to employ nano-, micro- and macro-scale adhesion experiments to gain a detailed understanding of the adhesive role of L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) and other key residues in mussel adhesion, and to use this information to motivate the design of new MAP-inspired macromolecular biomaterials. Single molecule force probe measurements will be performed to investigate the bond forces and energies associated with interaction of DOPA and DOPA-containing peptides with representative implant materials as well as hard and soft tissues. To complement the single molecule experiments, the adhesive strength arising from contact of ensembles of peptides presented at the surfaces of hydrogels with implant materials and tissues will be tested using a fracture micromechanics methodology. Finally, the information obtained from the nano- and micro-scale adhesion experiments will be exploited for rational design of new MAP mimetic polymers. These polymers will be synthesized and tested as hard and soft tissue adhesives using macro-scale lap shear bond strength measurements. This study will provide new insights into the fundamental role of DOPA and other amino acids in biological adhesion, and will generate new adhesive biomaterials for use in soft and hard tissue repair, tissue regeneration, and drug delivery.