TY - JOUR A1 - Zaupa, Alessandro A1 - Neffe, Axel T. A1 - Pierce, Benjamin F. A1 - Nöchel, Ulrich A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Influence of tyrosine-derived moieties and drying conditions on the formation of helices in gelatin JF - Biomacromolecules : an interdisciplinary journal focused at the interface of polymer science and the biological sciences N2 - The single and triple helical organization of protein chains strongly influences the mechanical properties of gelatin-based materials. A chemical method for obtaining different degrees of helical organization in gelatin is covalent functionalization, while a physical method for achieving the same goal is the variation of the drying conditions of gelatin solutions. Here we explored how the introduction of desaminotyrosine (DAT) and desaminotyrosyl tyrosine (DATT) linked to lysine residues of gelatin influenced the kinetics and thermodynamic equilibrium of the helicalization process of single and triple helices following different drying conditions. Drying at a temperature above. the helix-to-coil transition temperature of gelatin (T > T-c, called nu(short)) generally resulted in gelatins with relatively lower triple helical content (X-c,X-t = 1-2%) than lower temperature drying (T < T-c, called nu(long)) (X-c,X-t = 8-10%), where the DAT(T) functional groups generally disrupted helix formation. While different helical contents affected the thermal transition temperatures only slightly, the mechanical properties were strongly affected for swollen hydrogels (E = 4-13 kPa for samples treated by nu(long) and E = 120-700 kPa for samples treated by nu(short)). This study shows that side group functionalization and different drying conditions are viable options to control the helicalization and macroscopic properties of gelatin-based materials. Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/bm101029k SN - 1525-7797 VL - 12 IS - 1 SP - 75 EP - 81 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vukicevic, Radovan A1 - Neffe, Axel T. A1 - Luetzow, Karola A1 - Pierce, Benjamin F. A1 - Lendlein, Andreas T1 - Conditional Ultrasound Sensitivity of Poly[(N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-(vinyl imidazole)] Microgels for Controlled Lipase Release JF - Macromolecular rapid communications N2 - Triggering the release of cargo from a polymer network by ultrasonication as an external, non-invasive stimulus can be an interesting concept for on-demand release. Here, it is shown that, in pH-and thermosensitive microgels, the ultrasound sensitivity of the polymer network depends on the external conditions. Crosslinked poly[(N-isopropylacrylamide)-co-(vinyl imidazole)] microgels showed a volume phase transition temperature (VPTT) of 25-50 degrees C, which increases with decreasing pH. Above the VPTT the polymer chains are collapsed, while below VPTT they are extended. Only in the case of maximum observed swelling, where the polymer chains are expanded, the microgels are mechanically fragmented through ultrasonication. In contrast, when the polymer chains are partially collapsed it is not possible to manipulate the microgels by ultrasound. Additionally, the ultrasound-induced on-demand release of wheat germ lipase from the microgels could be demonstrated successfully. The principle of conditional ultrasound sensitivity is likely to be general and can be used for selection of matrix-cargo combinations. KW - ultrasound KW - polymers KW - microgels KW - lipase release KW - controlled release KW - thermoresponsive polymers KW - biomaterials Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/marc.201500311 SN - 1022-1336 SN - 1521-3927 VL - 36 IS - 21 SP - 1891 EP - 1896 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Federico, Stefania A1 - Pierce, Benjamin F. A1 - Piluso, Susanna A1 - Wischke, Christian A1 - Lendlein, Andreas A1 - Neffe, Axel T. T1 - Design of Decorin-Based Peptides That Bind to CollagenI and their Potential as Adhesion Moieties in Biomaterials JF - Angewandte Chemie : a journal of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker ; International edition N2 - Mimicking the binding epitopes of protein-protein interactions by using small peptides is important for generating modular biomimetic systems. A strategy is described for the design of such bioactive peptides without accessible structural data for the targeted interaction, and the effect of incorporating such adhesion peptides in complex biomaterial systems is demonstrated. The highly repetitive structure of decorin was analyzed to identify peptides that are representative of the inner and outer surface, and it was shown that only peptides based on the inner surface of decorin bind to collagen. The peptide with the highest binding affinity for collagenI, LHERHLNNN, served to slow down the diffusion of a conjugated dye in a collagen gel, while its dimer could physically crosslink collagen, thereby enhancing the elastic modulus of the gel by one order of magnitude. These results show the potential of the identified peptides for the design of biomaterials for applications in regenerative medicine. KW - biomaterials KW - collagen KW - gels KW - peptides KW - protein-protein interactions Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.201505227 SN - 1433-7851 SN - 1521-3773 VL - 54 IS - 37 SP - 10980 EP - 10984 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Zaupa, Alessandro A1 - Neffe, Axel T. A1 - Pierce, Benjamin F. A1 - Lendlein, Andreas A1 - Hofmann, Dieter T1 - A molecular dynamic analysis of gelatin as an amorphous material Prediction of mechanical properties of gelatin systems JF - The international journal of artificial organs N2 - Biomaterials are used in regenerative medicine for induced autoregeneration and tissue engineering. This is often challenging, however, due to difficulties in tailoring and controlling the respective material properties. Since functionalization is expected to offer better control, in this study gelatin chains were modified with physically interacting groups based on tyrosine with the aim of causing the formation of physical crosslinks. This method permits application-specific properties like swelling and better tailoring of mechanical properties. The design of the crosslink strategy was supported by molecular dynamic (MD) simulations of amorphous bulk models for gelatin and functionalized gelatins at different water contents (0.8 and 25 wt.-%). The results permitted predictions to be formulated about the expected crosslink density and its influence on equilibrium swelling behavior and on elastic material properties. The models of pure gelatin were used to validate the strategy by comparison between simulated and experimental data such as density, backbone conformation angle distribution, and X-ray scattering spectra. A key result of the simulations was the prediction that increasing the number of aromatic functions attached to the gelatin chain leads to an increase in the number of physical netpoints observed in the simulated bulk packing models. By comparison with the Flory-Rehner model, this suggested reduced equilibrium swelling of the functionalized materials in water, a prediction that was subsequently confirmed by our experimental work. The reduction and control of the equilibrium degree of swelling in water is a key criterion for the applicability of functionalized gelatins when used, for example, as matrices for induced autoregeneration of tissues. KW - Physical Network KW - Biopolymer material KW - Molecular modeling KW - Gelatin Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5301/IJAO.2010.6083 SN - 0391-3988 VL - 34 IS - 2 SP - 139 EP - 151 PB - Wichtig CY - Milano ER -