TY - JOUR
T1 - Study on Keratin/PEGDA Composite Hydrogel with the Addition of Varied Hair Protein Fractions
AU - Chen, Yi
AU - Wang, Chih Chia
AU - Ma, Yu Shuan
AU - Chao, Yuan Yu
AU - Tseng, Ching Li
AU - Wei, Yang
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology Research Program, 108-2221-E-027-075. Additionally, the authors are grateful for the financial support to this research by the University System of Taipei Joint Research Program, under Grant No. USTP-NTUT-TMU-109-05.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Synthetic polymers, such as poly(ethylene glycol diacrylate) (PEGDA), may make hydrogels more quickly and efficiently; however, these systems are devoid of cell adhesion ligands. As a result, poly(ethylene glycol)-based polymers are restricted in their application to tissue engineering, whereas keratins, a biopolymer functional to the body, have been added to the PEGDA composite hydrogel to make it further applicable. However, as keratin is a mixture of proteins, a keratin-based material may have inconsistent properties due to the complicated keratin composition. This study investigates the effects of different fractions of keratin on the keratin/PEGDA composite properties. A hair was extracted and purified to identify internal keratin filaments (KIFs) and keratin-associated proteins (KAPs). The KIFs and KAPs were mixed with PEGDA to form a hydrogel by photo-cross-linking. The porosity measured in the gels was between 54% and 83%. We also determined the mechanical behavior of the composite through compression and tension tests. These analyses yielded a range of material strengths from 4.0 to 7.1 kPa and from 2.7 to 2.3 kPa, respectively. The gel properties correlated highly with the KAPs/KIFs content, as the two proteins have distinct beta structures. Modulating this ratio results in a keratin/PEGDA composite with more controllable gel properties.
AB - Synthetic polymers, such as poly(ethylene glycol diacrylate) (PEGDA), may make hydrogels more quickly and efficiently; however, these systems are devoid of cell adhesion ligands. As a result, poly(ethylene glycol)-based polymers are restricted in their application to tissue engineering, whereas keratins, a biopolymer functional to the body, have been added to the PEGDA composite hydrogel to make it further applicable. However, as keratin is a mixture of proteins, a keratin-based material may have inconsistent properties due to the complicated keratin composition. This study investigates the effects of different fractions of keratin on the keratin/PEGDA composite properties. A hair was extracted and purified to identify internal keratin filaments (KIFs) and keratin-associated proteins (KAPs). The KIFs and KAPs were mixed with PEGDA to form a hydrogel by photo-cross-linking. The porosity measured in the gels was between 54% and 83%. We also determined the mechanical behavior of the composite through compression and tension tests. These analyses yielded a range of material strengths from 4.0 to 7.1 kPa and from 2.7 to 2.3 kPa, respectively. The gel properties correlated highly with the KAPs/KIFs content, as the two proteins have distinct beta structures. Modulating this ratio results in a keratin/PEGDA composite with more controllable gel properties.
KW - associated keratin proteins
KW - composite hydrogel
KW - keratin intermediate filaments
KW - PEGDA
KW - protein secondary structures
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U2 - 10.1021/acsapm.2c00045
DO - 10.1021/acsapm.2c00045
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85130067706
SN - 2637-6105
VL - 4
SP - 3426
EP - 3437
JO - ACS Applied Polymer Materials
JF - ACS Applied Polymer Materials
IS - 5
ER -