title: Temporally controlled release of multiple growth factors from a self-assembling peptide hydrogel.
abstract: Protein growth factors have demonstrated great potential for tissue repair, but their inherent instability and large size prevents meaningful presentation to biologically protected nervous tissue. Here, we create a nanofibrous network from a self-assembling peptide (SAP) hydrogel to carry and stabilize the growth factors. We significantly reduced growth factor degradation to increase their lifespan by over 40 times. To control the temporal release profile we covalently attached polysaccharide chitosan molecules to the growth factor to increase its interactions with the hydrogel nanofibers and achieved a 4 h delay, demonstrating the potential of this method to provide temporally controlled growth factor delivery. We also describe release rate based analysis to examine the growth factor delivery in more detail than standard cumulative release profiles allow and show that the chitosan attachment method provided a more consistent release profile with a 60% reduction in fluctuations. To prove the potential of this system as a complex growth factor delivery platform we demonstrate for the first time temporally distinct release of multiple growth factors from a single tissue specific SAP hydrogel: a significant goal in regenerative medicine.
authors: Research School of Engineering, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
authors: Kiara F
authors: KF
authors: Bruggeman
authors: Alexandra L
authors: AL
authors: Rodriguez
authors: Clare L
authors: CL
authors: Parish
authors: Richard J
authors: RJ
authors: Williams
authors: David R
authors: DR
authors: Nisbet
mesh_terms: D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations; D020136:Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate; D020100:Hydrogels; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D057139:Nanofibers; D010455:Peptides
chemical_list: D003692:Delayed-Action Preparations; D020100:Hydrogels; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D010455:Peptides; D020136:Hydrogel, Polyethylene Glycol Dimethacrylate