Self-repairing filamentous actin hydrogel with hierarchical structure.
A chemically cross-linked filamentous actin (F-actin) gel consisting of globular actin (G-actin) as repeating units was prepared. The F-actin gel was cross-linked by covalent bonds, and the main chain is represented by the self-assembly of G-actin with a high-ordered hierarchical structure. The gel exhibited good mechanical performance with a storage modulus >1 kPa and undergoes reversible sol-gel transitions in response to changes in the salt concentration (chemical-induced sol-gel transition) as well as to shear strain (mechanical-induced sol-gel transition). Therefore, the gel exhibits self-repairing ability through dynamic polymerization and depolymerization across the structure hierarchies under repeated shear stress.
Molecular & System Life Science Unit,  RIKEN Advanced Science Institute , Wako, Saitama, Japan.
Ken-Ichi
K
Sano
Ryuzo
R
Kawamura
Taiki
T
Tominaga
Naoko
N
Oda
Kuniharu
K
Ijiro
Yoshihito
Y
Osada
D000199:Actins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry*; D008870:Microtubules / Q000737:chemistry; D058105:Polymerization; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013312:Stress, Physiological
D000199:Actins; D020100:Hydrogels