Effect of PEGylation on Low Molecular Weight Gelators Self-Assembly

Injectable hydrogels have emerged as a promising biomaterial for tissue regeneration due to their tissue-like properties. Due to the excellent self-assembly and hydrogelation properties, many studies have been done to investigate the properties of Low Molecular Weight Gelators (LMWGs) and their ability to form hydrogels. It has been shown that LMWGs-based hydrogels exhibit good application potential in biomedicine due to their anti-inflammatory properties. This LMWGs peptides are known to self-assemble in short time to form a hydrogel with high storage modulus but with poor injectable properties. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) has high structure flexibility, biocompatibility and hydration capacity. This project is focus on combining the rigidity of LMWGs with the flexibility and hydrophilic properties of PEG to obtain hybrid hydrogels. In addition, it was already showed that co-assembly of two LMWGs based building blocks exhibited remarkable mechanical properties, with an order of magnitude higher than hydrogels formed by each of the individual building blocks. Here we show how PEGylation affects the physical properties of these novel hybrids, positively affecting the thixotropic properties, increasing their resistance to force and enhancing the self-assembly after the gel destruction. This study can lead to development of injectable hydrogel for biomedical applications.