title: Enzymatic Regulation of Self-Assembling Peptide A9K2 Nanostructures and Hydrogelation with Highly Selective Antibacterial Activities.
abstract: Hydrogels offer great potential for many biomedical and technological applications. For clinical uses, hydrogels that act as scaffold materials for cell culture, regenerative medicine, and drug delivery are required to have bactericidal properties. The amphiphilic peptide A9K2 was designed to effectively inhibit bacterial growth via a mechanism of membrane permeabilization. The present study demonstrated that addition of fetal bovine serum (FBS) or plasma amine oxidase (PAO) induced a sol-gel transition in A9K2 aqueous solutions. The transformation of A9K2 molecules catalyzed by lysyl oxidase (LO) in FBS or PAO accounted for the hydrogelation. Importantly, the enzymatic A9K2 hydrogel displayed high antibacterial ability against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacterial strains while showing extremely low mammalian cell cytotoxicity, thus demonstrating good biocompatibility. Under established coculture conditions, the peptide hydrogel showed excellent selectivity by favoring the adherence and spreading of mammalian cells, while killing pathogenic bacteria, thus avoiding bacterial contamination. These advantages endow the enzymatic A9K2 hydrogel with great potential for biomedical applications.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing and Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, China University of Petroleum (East China) , 66 Changjiang West Road, Qingdao 266580, China.
authors.forename: Jingkun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing and Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, China University of Petroleum (East China) , 66 Changjiang West Road, Qingdao 266580, China.
authors.forename: Cuixia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing and Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, China University of Petroleum (East China) , 66 Changjiang West Road, Qingdao 266580, China.
authors.forename: Jingxin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing and Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, China University of Petroleum (East China) , 66 Changjiang West Road, Qingdao 266580, China.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Biological Physics Laboratory, School of Physics and Astronomy and Manchester Pharmacy School, University of Manchester , Schuster Building, Manchester M13 9PL, U. K.
authors.forename: Henry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.affiliation: Biological Physics Laboratory, School of Physics and Astronomy and Manchester Pharmacy School, University of Manchester , Schuster Building, Manchester M13 9PL, U. K.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing and Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, China University of Petroleum (East China) , 66 Changjiang West Road, Qingdao 266580, China.
authors.forename: Yuming
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Biological Physics Laboratory, School of Physics and Astronomy and Manchester Pharmacy School, University of Manchester , Schuster Building, Manchester M13 9PL, U. K.
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Penny
authors.affiliation: Biological Physics Laboratory, School of Physics and Astronomy and Manchester Pharmacy School, University of Manchester , Schuster Building, Manchester M13 9PL, U. K.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Waigh
authors.affiliation: Biological Physics Laboratory, School of Physics and Astronomy and Manchester Pharmacy School, University of Manchester , Schuster Building, Manchester M13 9PL, U. K.
authors.forename: Jian R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing and Centre for Bioengineering and Biotechnology, China University of Petroleum (East China) , 66 Changjiang West Road, Qingdao 266580, China.
authors.forename: Hai
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000187:drug effects*; D002460:Cell Line; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects*; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000378:metabolism; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry*; D010455:Peptides / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D020100:Hydrogels; D010455:Peptides
keywords: antibacterial activity; cell selectivity; enzyme; hydrogel; self-assembly; short peptide