A variety of “clickable” self-assembling peptide-amphiphile hydrogel systems are reported. Covalently linked hydrogels were prepared using alkyne-azide “click” chemistry and thiolene photochemistry, which were used in combination with short self-assembling peptideamphiphile compounds. For alkyne-azide “click” hydrogels, samples were formed from a mixture of two peptideamphiphiles which were separately disubstituted with alkyne or azide functionalised amino acids. This allowed for production of an extensively triazole-linked hydrogel product when gelation was performed in combination with the appropriate “click” pre-catalyst and reductant. For thiol-ene photochemical hydrogels samples were formed from a mixture of two peptideamphiphiles which were separately disubstituted with cysteine or Alloc-protected lysine. UV exposure was used to catalyse the covalent linking of the asembled hydrogel. Michael addition thiol-ene reactions were also investigated as a potential covalent linking method. A number of model reactions were attempted on specially synthesised amino acids. Results were promising, but a number of difficulties were encountered which made them unsuitable for incorporation in a hydrogel system. The hydrogel samples produced were all found to be viscoelastic hydrogels through analysis by rheological methods. A variation in the stiffness of the samples was observed, with samples having Young’s modulus values in the soft to intermediate range when compared to that of various tissues. SEM analysis indicated the hydrogels exhibited a fibrous nanostructure. The biological activity of the hydrogel samples was investigated by 2D seeding of cells on hydrogel samples. A LIVE/DEAD assay was performed which indicated hydrogel samples were able to support cell attachment and growth in vitro.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:558625 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Nicoll, Sarah Louise |
| Publisher | University of Aberdeen |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://digitool.abdn.ac.uk:80/webclient/DeliveryManager?pid=186975 |
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