title: Designer D-form self-assembling peptide nanofiber scaffolds for 3-dimensional cell cultures.
abstract: Traditional 2-D cell cultures have many limitations because they do not truly mimic the natural environment. In order to fully understand the in vivo 3-D environment, it is crucial to develop a biomimetic 3-D culture system. Recently progress toward 3-D tissue cell cultures has been gradually made by addressing many critical issues including the microenvironment, gradient diffusion and apoptosis. Here we report a D-form self-assembly peptide system that provides insight into the relationships between nanofiber scaffolds and cell behaviors in 3-D cell cultures. We observed the peptide secondary structures response to ions and confirmed that their participation increases mechanical force rapidly. We also showed the enzymes attachment to nanofibers, investigated scaffolds to form 3-D microenvironment and described a modified protocol for 3-D cell culture D-form self-assembly peptide. Using this protocol, we showed cell behavior in the D-form peptide with high cell viability and low-level cell apoptosis for weeks. Furthermore, we proposed a plausible model for chiral self-assembly peptides in 3-D culture. Our research may further stimulate others to design novel biological materials at single chiral amino acid level, and may broaden the applications of designer D-form self-assembling peptides in clinical and medical nanobiotechnology.
authors.affiliation: The College of Basic Medical Sciences, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China. Zhongliluo@163.com
authors.forename: Zhongli
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yue
authors.forename: Yanfang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xiao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: Jianping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gong
authors.forename: Liangliang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Zhong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yuelin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Jiao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Mingfeng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zheng
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D048430:Cell Shape / Q000187:drug effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D060833:Cellular Microenvironment / Q000187:drug effects; D002942:Circular Dichroism; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D018625:Microscopy, Atomic Force; D008954:Models, Biological; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D057139:Nanofibers / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases / Q000378:metabolism; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D012212:Rheology / Q000187:drug effects; D013997:Time Factors; D054457:Tissue Scaffolds / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides; D010447:Peptide Hydrolases