title: Repetitive Biomimetic Self-healing of Ca(2+)-Induced Nanocomposite Protein Hydrogels.
abstract: Self-healing is a capacity observed in most biological systems in which the healing processes are autonomously triggered after the damage. Inspired by this natural behavior, researchers believed that a synthetic material possessing similar self-recovery capability could also be developed. Albeit various intrinsic self-healing systems have been developed over the past few decades, restriction on the biocompatibility due to the required synthetic conditions under extreme pH and with poisonous cross-linker significantly limits their application in biomedical field. In this study, a highly biocompatible nanocomposite protein hydrogel with excellent biomimetic self-healing property is presented. The self-healing protein gel is made by inducing calcium ions into the mixture of heat-induced BSA nano-aggregates and pristine BSA molecules at room temperature and under physiological pH due to the ion-mediated protein-protein association and the bridging effect of divalent Ca(2+) ions. The as-prepared protein hydrogel shows excellent repetitive self-healing properties without using any external stimuli at ambient condition. Such outstanding self-recovery performance was quantitatively evaluated/validated by both dynamic and oscillatory rheological analysis. Moreover, with the presence of calcium ions, the self-healing behavior can be significantly facilitated/enhanced. Finally, the superior biocompatibility demonstrated by in vitro cytotoxicity analysis suggests that it is a promising self-healing material well-suited for biomedical applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.
authors.forename: Qiuchen
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaoyu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.
authors.forename: Tai-Hsi
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.|Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lei
mesh_terms: D000072283:A549 Cells; D001672:Biocompatible Materials / Q000737:chemistry; D040761:Biomimetic Materials / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D002118:Calcium; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D020100:Hydrogels / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000494:pharmacology; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D053761:Nanocomposites / Q000737:chemistry; D012212:Rheology; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D001672:Biocompatible Materials; D020100:Hydrogels; D012710:Serum Albumin, Bovine; D002118:Calcium