Highly Elastic Protein Gel Encourages Wound Healing

A new study describes a protein-based gel that mimics many of the properties of elastic tissue—such as skin and blood vessels—when exposed to light.

Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston, MA, USA) and King Abdulaziz University (KAU; Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) successfully developed a photo-crosslinked elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) that contained only canonical amino acids and thiols from a pair of cysteine residues. The thiols embedded into the ELP sequence caused formation of disulfide bonds when exposed to UV light. This allowed the researchers to create a highly elastic hydrogel with mechanical and swelling behavior properties that can be tuned by controlling ELP concentrations.

They then examined the biocompatibility of the engineered ELP hydrogels in vitro, as well as in vivo with subcutaneous implantation in rats. The ELP constructs demonstrated long-term structural stability in vivo and early and progressive host integration without immune response, suggesting their potential for supporting wound repair and as an in vivo hemostatic material for treating bleeding wounds. The researchers also found that combining the hydrogel with silica nanoparticles formed an even more powerful barrier. The study was published in the July 2015 issue of Advanced Functional Materials.

“Our hydrogel has many applications: it could be used as a scaffold to grow cells, or it can be incorporated with cells in a dish and then injected to stimulate tissue growth,” said co-senior author Nasim Annabi, PhD, of the Brigham biomedical engineering division. “In addition, the material can be used as a sealant, sticking to the tissue at the site of injury and creating a barrier over a wound. We see great potential for use in the clinic. Our method is simple, the material is biocompatible, and we hope to see it solve clinical problems in the future.”

“Hydrogels, jelly-like materials that can mimic the properties of human tissue, are widely used in biomedicine, but currently available materials have limitations,” added co-senior author Ali Khademhosseini, PhD, of Brigham and KAU.” Some synthetic gels degrade into toxic chemicals over time, and some natural gels are not strong enough to withstand the flow of arterial blood through them.”

Related Links:
Brigham and Women's Hospital
King Abdulaziz University