Yihua Loo, Shuguang Zhang, Charlotte A.E. Hauser, From short peptides to nanofibers to macromolecular assemblies in biomedicine, Biotechnology Advances, Volume 30, Issue 3, May–June 2012, Pages 593-603, ISSN 0734-9750, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biotechadv.2011.10.004.
Abstract:
In the last few years, a variety of self-assembling short peptides that consist exclusively of simple amino acids have been designed and modified. These peptides exhibit self-assembling dynamic behaviors. At the molecular structural level, they form α-helical, β-sheet and β-hairpins structures in water. These structures further undergo spontaneous assembly to form nanofibers which aggregate into supramolecular scaffolds that entrap large volumes of water. Furthermore, nanostructures and supramolecular structures that selforganized from these short peptides also have a broad spectrum of biotechnological applications. They are useful as biological materials for 2D and 3D tissue cell cultures, regenerative and reparative medicine, tissue engineering as well as injectable drug delivery matrices that gel in situ.We have endeavored to do a comprehensive review of short peptides that form nanofibrous hydrogels. In particular, we have focused on recent advances in peptide assembly motifs and applications.
License type:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Funding Info:
This work was supported by the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (Biomedical Research Council, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore).