The need to improve bone regeneration became more dominant in recent decades1. A major research strategy to activate a better bone regeneration is to engineer scaffolds that have mechanical, chemical and biological properties. In previous research on bone regeneration carried out in our lab an amphiphilicpeptide hydrogel, abbreviated FD (sequence: Pro–Asp–(Phe–Asp)5–Pro), was used as scaffold. This hydrogel showed a positive result for bone regeneration in vitro and in vivo2. The hypothesis of this research is that enhancement of cell-scaffold interactions in FD hydrogels may further encourage bone regeneration. For this purpose a peptide denoted FD-RGD was incorporated in the matrix of the FD hydrogels. Hydrogels with different FD:FD-RGD ratios (10%, 20%, 30% and 0% as a control) were characterized chemically and in cell cultures. CD results showed that peptide solutions with different FD:FD-RGD rations, maintained the mixed β-sheet and random composition as in FD peptide. Oscillatory rheology assays showed that increasing FD-RGD percentage in the hydrogel lower the storage and loss moduli. More viable cells and cell-hydrogel interactions were found on hydrogels with FD-RGD peptide compared to FD hydrogels. These results highlight the potential advantages in supplementing the amphiphilic and acidic β-sheet peptide hydrogels with specific biologically active motifs.
References
- D`ESTE, M. and EGLIN, D., 2013. Hydrogels in calcium phosphate moldable and injectable bone substitutes: Sticky excipients or advanced 3-D carriers Acta Biomaterialia, 9(3), pp. 5421-5430.
- AMOSI, N., ZARZHITSKY, S., GILSOHN, E., SALNIKOV, O., MONSONEGO-ORNAN, E., SHAHAR, R. and RAPAPORT, H., 2012. Acidic peptide hydrogel scaffolds enhance calcium phosphate mineral turnover into bone tissue. Acta Biomaterialia, 8(7), pp. 2466-2475.
edryhoda@post.bgu.ac.il
