Enzyme hydrogel

In tissue engineering, 3D printing represents a versatile technology employing inks to construct three-dimensional living structures, mimicking natural biological systems. This technology efficiently translates digital blueprints into highly reproducible 3D objects. Recent advances have expanded 3D printing applications, allowing for the fabrication of diverse anatomical components, including engineered functional tissues and organs. The development of printable inks, which incorporate macromolecules, enzymes, cells, and growth factors, is advancing with the aim of restoring damaged tissues and organs...

Curcumin is a naturally occurring polyphenolic compound extracted from the rhizomes of Curcuma longa, commonly known as turmeric. It has been used for centuries in traditional medicine and is gaining increasing attention in modern medicine owing to its potential therapeutic benefits. Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by red scaly patches on the skin. Curcumin has been found to be effective in treating psoriasis by inhibiting the activity of various enzymes and proteins involved in the inflammation and proliferation of psoriatic skin cells...

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a highly disabling pathology, characterized by synovial inflammation and cartilage degeneration. Orthobiologics have shown promising results in OA treatment thanks to their ability to influence articular cells and modulate the inflammatory OA environment. Considering their complex mechanism of action, the development of reliable and relevant joint models appears as crucial to select the best orthobiologics for each patient. The aim of this study was to establish a microfluidic OA model to test therapies in a personalized human setting...

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly contagious illness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), resulting in a global health crisis. The primary diagnostic method for COVID-19 is quantitative reverse transcription PCR, which is time-consuming and requires expensive instrumentation. Here, we developed an electrochemical biosensor for detecting SARS-CoV-2 biomarkers using a 3D porous polyacrylamide/polyaniline hydrogel (PPG) electrode prepared by UV photopolymerization and in situ polymerization...

BACKGROUND: Hypothermia is a promising therapy for traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the clinic. However, the neuroprotective outcomes of hypothermia-treated TBI patients in clinical studies are inconsistent due to several severe side effects. Here, an injectable refrigerated hydrogel was designed to deliver 3-iodothyronamine (T1AM) to achieve a longer period of local hypothermia for TBI treatment. Hydrogel has four advantages: (1) It can be injected into injured sites after TBI, where it forms a hydrogel and avoids the side effects of whole-body cooling...

Given the potential dangers of thiram to food safety, constructing a facile sensor is significantly critical. Herein, we presented a colorimetric sensor based on glutathione‑iron hybrid (GSH-Fe) nanozyme for specific and stable detection of thiram. The GSH-Fe nanozyme exhibits good peroxidase-mimicking activity with comparable Michaelis constant (Km  = 0.551 mM) to the natural enzyme. Thiram pesticides can specifically limit the catalytic activity of GSH-Fe nanozyme via surface passivation, causing the change of colorimetric signal...

Constructing effective antidotes to reduce global health impacts induced by alcohol prevalence is a challenging topic. Despite the positive effects observed with intravenous applications of natural enzyme complexes, their insufficient activities and complicated usage often result in the accumulation of toxic acetaldehyde, which raises important clinical concerns, highlighting the pressing need for stable oral strategies. Here we present an effective solution for alcohol detoxification by employing a biomimetic-nanozyme amyloid hydrogel as an orally administered catalytic platform...

Endogenous stimuli-responsive injectable hydrogels hold significant promise for practical applications due to their spatio-temporal controllable drug delivery. Herein, we report a facile strategy to construct a series of in situ formation polypeptide hydrogels with thermal responsiveness and enzyme-triggered dynamic self-assembly. The thermo-responsive hydrogels are from the diblock random copolymer mPEG-b-P(Glu-co-Tyr). The L-glutamic acid (Glu) segments with different γ-alkyl groups, including methyl, ethyl, and n-butyl, offer specific secondary structure, facilitating the formation of hydrogel...

Regenerative medicine is an interdisciplinary field aiming at restoring pathologically damaged tissues and whole organs by cell transplantation in combination with proper supporting scaffolds. Gelatine-based ones are very attractive due to their biocompatibility, rapid biodegradability, and lack of immunogenicity. Gelatine-based composite hydrogels, containing strengthening agents to improve their modest mechanical properties, have been demonstrated to act as extracellular matrices (ECMs), thus playing a critical role in "organ manufacturing"...

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most lethal and common malignant primary brain tumor in adults. An important feature that supports GBM aggressiveness is the unique composition of its extracellular matrix (ECM). Particularly, fibronectin plays an important role in cancer cell adhesion, differentiation, proliferation, and chemoresistance. Thus, herein, a hydrogel with mechanical properties compatible with the brain and the ability to disrupt the dynamic and reciprocal interaction between fibronectin and tumor cells was produced...

Liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) describes many biochemical processes, including hydrogel formation, in the integrity of macromolecular assemblages and existence of membraneless organelles, including ribosome, nucleolus, nuclear speckles, paraspeckles, promyelocytic leukemia (PML) bodies, Cajal bodies (all exert crucial roles in cellular physiology), and evidence are emerging day by day. Also, phase separation is well documented in generation of plasma membrane subdomains and interplay between membranous and membraneless organelles...

Hydrogels have emerged as promising candidates for biomedical applications, especially in the field of antibacterial therapeutics, due to their unique structural properties, highly tunable physicochemical properties, and excellent biocompatibility. The integration of stimuli-responsive functions into antibacterial hydrogels holds the potential to enhance their antibacterial properties and therapeutic efficacy, dynamically responding to different external or internal stimuli, such as pH, temperature, enzymes, and light...

Wearable sweat sensor offers a promising means for noninvasive real-time health monitoring, but the efficient collection and accurate analysis of sweat remains challenging. One of the obstacles is to precisely modulate the surface wettability of the microfluidics to achieve efficient sweat collection. Here a facile initiated chemical vapor deposition (iCVD) method is presented to grow and pattern polymer nanocone arrays with distinct superwettability on polydimethylsiloxane microfluidics, which facilitate highly efficient sweat transportation and collection...

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are produced by cellular activities, such as metabolism and immune response, and play important roles in cell signaling and homeostasis. However, overproduced ROS causes irreversible damage to nucleic acids and membrane lipids, supporting genetic mutations and enhancing the effects of aging. Cells defend themselves against ROS using antioxidant systems based on redox-active sulfur and transition metals. Inspired by such biological redox-responsive systems, we developed methionine-containing self-assembling peptides...

In response to the burgeoning interest in the development of highly conformable and resilient flexible electronic sensors capable of transducing diverse physical stimuli, this review investigates the pivotal role of natural polymers, specifically those derived from starch, in crafting sustainable and biocompatible sensing materials. Expounding on cutting-edge research, the exploration delves into innovative strategies employed to leverage the distinctive attributes of starch in conjunction with other polymers for the fabrication of advanced sensors...

The healing of critical-sized bone defects is a major challenge in the field of bone tissue engineering. Gelatin-related hydrogels have emerged as a potential solution due to their desirable properties. However, their limited osteogenic, mechanical, and reactive oxygen species (ROS)-scavenging capabilities have hindered their clinical application. To overcome this issue, we developed a biofunctional gelatin-Mxene nanocomposite hydrogel. Firstly, we prepared two-dimensional (2D) Ti3 C2 MXene nanosheets using a layer delamination method...

The enhanced permeability and retention (EPR) effect has become the guiding principle for nanomedicine against cancer for a long time. However, several biological barriers severely resist therapeutic agents' penetration and retention into the deep tumor tissues, resulting in poor EPR effect and high tumor mortality. Inspired by lava, we proposed a proteolytic enzyme therapy to improve the tumor distribution and penetration of nanomedicine. A trypsin-crosslinked hydrogel (Trypsin@PSA Gel) was developed to maintain trypsin's activity...

Molecular carriers are necessary for the controlled release of drugs and genes to achieve the desired therapeutic outcomes. DNA hydrogels can be a promising candidate in this application with their distinctive sequence-dependent programmability, which allows precise encapsulation of specific cargo molecules and stimuli-responsive release of them at the target. However, DNA hydrogels are inherently susceptible to the degradation of nucleases, making them vulnerable in a physiological environment. To be an effective molecular carrier, DNA hydrogels should be able to protect encapsulated cargo molecules until they reach the target and release them once they are reached...

The preservation of fresh-cut fruits and vegetables has attracted attention to the shelf-life reduction caused by high humidity. Herein, alginate/copper ions cross-linking, in-situ growth and self-assembly techniques of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) were utilized to prepare a moisture responsive hydrogel bead (HKUST-1@ALG). As the multistage porous structure formation, tea tree essential oil (TTO) load capacity in hydrogel bead (TTO-HKUST-1@ALG) was increased from 6.1% to 21.6%. TTO-HKUST-1@ALG had excellent moisture response performance, and the release rates of TTO increased from 33...

Dopamine (DA) signaling is critically important in striatal function, and this metabolically demanding process is fueled largely by glucose. However, DA and glucose are typically studied independently and, as such, the precise relationship between DA release and glucose availability remains unclear. Fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) is commonly coupled with carbon-fiber microelectrodes to study DA transients. These microelectrodes can be modified with glucose oxidase (GOx) to generate microbiosensors capable of simultaneously quantifying real-time and physiologically relevant fluctuations of glucose, a nonelectrochemically active substrate, and DA, which is readily oxidized and reduced at the electrode surface...