Cryogelation of human hair keratins

Human hair keratins (HHK) are known for their biocompatibility and potential to regulate cell response, possibly due to the presence of the leucine-aspartic-valine cell adhesion and signaling motifs. Together with the abundance of cysteine residues in HHK, 3D HHK scaffolds are fabricated through cry...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chua, Huei Min, Zhao, Zhitong, Ng, Kee Woei
Other Authors: School of Materials Science and Engineering
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/146390
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
id sg-ntu-dr.10356-146390
record_format dspace
spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1463902023-07-14T16:00:26Z Cryogelation of human hair keratins Chua, Huei Min Zhao, Zhitong Ng, Kee Woei School of Materials Science and Engineering Engineering::Materials::Biomaterials 3D Scaffolds Cryogels Human hair keratins (HHK) are known for their biocompatibility and potential to regulate cell response, possibly due to the presence of the leucine-aspartic-valine cell adhesion and signaling motifs. Together with the abundance of cysteine residues in HHK, 3D HHK scaffolds are fabricated through cryogelation based on spontaneous disulfide crosslinks and noncovalent interactions. Herein, the molecular mechanism of HHK self-assembly during cryogelation is interrogated and the influence of cryogelation parameters on the properties of the resultant scaffolds is studied. With successive freeze-thaw cycles, the storage modulus (G') of HHK cryogels substantially improves from 116.4 Pa at freeze-thaw cycle 3 (FT3) to 1908.7 Pa at freeze-thaw cycle 10 (FT10). Meanwhile, it is found that complete thiol-capping of HHK samples significantly inhibits cryogel formation as compared to partially or uncapped HHK samples, suggesting the dominant role of disulfide stabilization in cryogelation. Finally, uniaxial compression tests on HHK sponges demonstrate that FT cycling, from 0 to 10, is able to improve the compression modulus of sponges by ≈12-folds. These findings show that macroscale properties of HHK cryogels can be conveniently modulated by physical parameters of cryogelation and that disulfide bonding is the main stabilizing force in HHK cryogels. Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) Accepted version This research is supported by the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) under its Wound Care Innovation for the Tropics IAF-PP (H17/01/a0/0L9). The authors would like to acknowledge the Facility for Analysis, Characterization, Testing and Simulation, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, for their technical support in scanning electron microscopy analysis. 2021-02-16T00:58:13Z 2021-02-16T00:58:13Z 2020 Journal Article Chua, H. M., Zhao, Z., & Ng, K. W. (2020). Cryogelation of human hair keratins. Macromolecular Rapid Communications, 41(21), e2000254-. doi:10.1002/marc.202000254 1022-1336 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/146390 10.1002/marc.202000254 32776404 2-s2.0-85089134967 21 41 e2000254 en Macromolecular Rapid Communications This is the accepted version of the following article: Chua, H. M., Zhao, Z., & Ng, K. W. (2020). Cryogelation of human hair keratins. Macromolecular Rapid Communications, 41(21), e2000254-. doi:10.1002/marc.202000254, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/marc.202000254. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with the Wiley Self-Archiving Policy [https://authorservices.wiley.com/authorresources/Journal-Authors/licensing/self-archiving.html]. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Engineering::Materials::Biomaterials
3D Scaffolds
Cryogels
spellingShingle Engineering::Materials::Biomaterials
3D Scaffolds
Cryogels
Chua, Huei Min
Zhao, Zhitong
Ng, Kee Woei
Cryogelation of human hair keratins
description Human hair keratins (HHK) are known for their biocompatibility and potential to regulate cell response, possibly due to the presence of the leucine-aspartic-valine cell adhesion and signaling motifs. Together with the abundance of cysteine residues in HHK, 3D HHK scaffolds are fabricated through cryogelation based on spontaneous disulfide crosslinks and noncovalent interactions. Herein, the molecular mechanism of HHK self-assembly during cryogelation is interrogated and the influence of cryogelation parameters on the properties of the resultant scaffolds is studied. With successive freeze-thaw cycles, the storage modulus (G') of HHK cryogels substantially improves from 116.4 Pa at freeze-thaw cycle 3 (FT3) to 1908.7 Pa at freeze-thaw cycle 10 (FT10). Meanwhile, it is found that complete thiol-capping of HHK samples significantly inhibits cryogel formation as compared to partially or uncapped HHK samples, suggesting the dominant role of disulfide stabilization in cryogelation. Finally, uniaxial compression tests on HHK sponges demonstrate that FT cycling, from 0 to 10, is able to improve the compression modulus of sponges by ≈12-folds. These findings show that macroscale properties of HHK cryogels can be conveniently modulated by physical parameters of cryogelation and that disulfide bonding is the main stabilizing force in HHK cryogels.
author2 School of Materials Science and Engineering
author_facet School of Materials Science and Engineering
Chua, Huei Min
Zhao, Zhitong
Ng, Kee Woei
format Article
author Chua, Huei Min
Zhao, Zhitong
Ng, Kee Woei
author_sort Chua, Huei Min
title Cryogelation of human hair keratins
title_short Cryogelation of human hair keratins
title_full Cryogelation of human hair keratins
title_fullStr Cryogelation of human hair keratins
title_full_unstemmed Cryogelation of human hair keratins
title_sort cryogelation of human hair keratins
publishDate 2021
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/146390
_version_ 1773551399127220224