title: Aggregation behaviour of biohybrid microgels from elastin-like recombinamers.
abstract: Investigation of the aggregation behavior of biohybrid microgels, which can potentially be used as drug carriers, is an important topic, because aggregation not only causes loss of activity, but also toxicity and immunogenicity. To study this effect we synthesized microgels from elastin-like recombinamers (ELRs) using the miniemulsion technique. The existence of aggregation for such biohybrid microgels at different concentrations and temperatures was studied by different methods which include dynamic light scattering (DLS), (1)H high-resolution magic angle sample spinning (HRMAS) NMR spectroscopy, relaxometry and diffusometry. A hysteresis effect was detected in the process of aggregation by DLS as a function of temperature that strongly depends on ELR microgel concentration. The aggregation process was further quantitatively analyzed by the concentration dependence of the (1)H amino-acid residue chemical shifts and microgel diffusivity measured by NMR methods using the population balance kinetic aggregation model.
authors.affiliation: DWI-Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials, e.V., RWTH-Aachen University, Forckenbeckstraße 50, D-52074 Aachen, Germany. moeller@dwi.rwth-aachen.de demco@itmc.rwth-aachen.de.
authors.forename: Smriti
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: DWI-Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials, e.V., RWTH-Aachen University, Forckenbeckstraße 50, D-52074 Aachen, Germany. moeller@dwi.rwth-aachen.de demco@itmc.rwth-aachen.de and Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Department of Physics and Chemistry, 25 G. Baritiu Str., RO-400027, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Dan Eugen
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Demco
authors.affiliation: DWI-Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials, e.V., RWTH-Aachen University, Forckenbeckstraße 50, D-52074 Aachen, Germany. moeller@dwi.rwth-aachen.de demco@itmc.rwth-aachen.de.
authors.forename: Khosrow
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rahimi
authors.affiliation: Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Department of Physics and Chemistry, 25 G. Baritiu Str., RO-400027, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
authors.forename: Radu
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fechete
authors.affiliation: G.I.R. Bioforge, University of Valladolid, CIBER-BBN, Valladolid 47011, Spain.
authors.forename: José Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Rodriguez-Cabello
authors.affiliation: DWI-Leibniz-Institute for Interactive Materials, e.V., RWTH-Aachen University, Forckenbeckstraße 50, D-52074 Aachen, Germany. moeller@dwi.rwth-aachen.de demco@itmc.rwth-aachen.de.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Möller
mesh_terms: D004337:Drug Carriers; D000067493:Dynamic Light Scattering; D004549:Elastin / Q000737:chemistry*; D005782:Gels / Q000737:chemistry*; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D004337:Drug Carriers; D005782:Gels; D004549:Elastin