In this work, we introduce dipeptides containing tryptophan N-capped with the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug naproxen and C-terminal dehydroamino acids, dehydrophenylalanine (ΔPhe), dehydroaminobutyric acid (ΔAbu), and dehydroalanine (ΔAla) as efficacious protease resistant hydrogelators. Optimized conditions for gel formation are reported. Transmission electron microscopy experiments revealed that the hydrogels consist of networks of micro/nanosized fibers formed by peptide self-assembly. Fluorescence and circular dichroism spectroscopy indicate that the self-assembly process is driven by stacking interactions of the aromatic groups. The naphthalene groups of the naproxen moieties are highly organized in the fibers through chiral stacking. Rheological experiments demonstrated that the most hydrophobic peptide (containing C-terminal ΔPhe) formed more elastic gels at lower critical gelation concentrations. This gel revealed irreversible breakup, while the C-terminal ΔAbu and ΔAla gels, although less elastic, exhibited structural recovery and partial healing of the elastic properties. A potential antitumor thieno[3,2-b]pyridine derivative was incorporated (noncovalently) into the gel formed by the hydrogelator containing C-terminal ΔPhe residue. Fluorescence and Förster resonance energy transfer measurements indicate that the drug is located in a hydrophobic environment, near/associated with the peptide fibers, establishing this type of hydrogel as a good drug-nanocarrier candidate.
在这项工作中,我们介绍了含有色
氨酸、N端以非甾体抗炎药
萘普生封端、C端为脱
水氨基酸(脱
水苯丙
氨酸(ΔPhe)、脱
水氨基
丁酸(ΔAbu)和脱
水丙
氨酸(ΔAla))的二肽,这些二肽作为有效的
蛋白酶抵抗型
水凝胶形成剂。我们报告了最佳凝胶化条件。透射电子显微镜实验揭示,
水凝胶由通过肽自组装形成的微/纳米尺寸纤维网络组成。荧光光谱和圆二色光谱表明,自组装过程是由芳香族基团的堆积相互作用驱动的。
萘普生部分的
萘环在纤维中通过手性堆积高度有序。流变学实验证明,最疏
水的肽(含C端ΔPhe)在较低的临界凝胶化浓度下形成了更具弹性的凝胶。这种凝胶显示出不可逆的破碎,而C端ΔAbu和ΔAla凝胶虽然弹性较差,但表现出结构恢复和部分弹性性能的愈合。将一种潜在的抗肿瘤
噻吩并[3,2-b]
吡啶衍生物(非共价地)掺入含C端ΔPhe残基的凝胶形成剂形成的
水凝胶中。荧光和福斯特共振能量转移测量表明,药物位于疏
水环境中,靠近/与肽纤维相连,这表明这种类型的
水凝胶是一个良好的药物纳米载体候选者。