A Self-Organized ECM-Mimetic Model Based on an Amphiphilic Multiblock Silk-Elastin-Like co-Recombinamer with a Concomitant Dual Physical Gelation Process

Abstract

Although significant progress has been made in the area of injectable hydrogels for biomedical applications and model cell niches, further improvements are still needed, especially in terms of mechanical performance, stability, and biomimicry of the native fibrillar architecture found in the extracellular matrix (ECM). This work focuses on the design and production of a silk-elastin-based injectable multiblock corecombinamer that spontaneously forms a stable physical nanofibrillar hydrogel under physiological conditions. That differs from previously reported silk-elastin-like polymers on a major content and predominance of the elastin-like part, as well as a more complex structure and behavior of such a part of the molecule, which is aimed to obtain well-defined hydrogels. Rheological and DSC experiments showed that this system displays a coordinated and concomitant dual gelation mechanism. In a first stage, a rapid, thermally driven gelation of the corecombinamer solution takes place once the system reaches body temperature due to the thermal responsiveness of the elastin-like (EL) parts and the amphiphilic multiblock design of the corecombinamer. A bridged micellar structure is the dominant microscopic feature of this stage, as demonstrated by AFM and TEM. Completion of the initial stage triggers the second, which is comprised of a stabilization, reinforcement, and microstructuring of the gel. FTIR analysis shows that these events involve the formation of β-sheets around the silk motifs. The emergence of such β-sheet structures leads to the spontaneous self-organization of the gel into the final fibrous structure. Despite the absence of biological cues, here we set the basis of the minimal structure that is able to display such a set of physical properties and undergo microscopic transformation from a solution to a fibrous hydrogel. The results point to the potential of this system as a basis for the development of injectable fibrillar biomaterial platforms toward a fully functional, biomimetic, artificial extracellular matrix, and cell niches.