Biological polyphenols as inspiration for biomedical adhesives and coatings
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1
University of California, Bioengineering, United States
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2
University of California, Materials Science and Engineering, United States
Polyphenols are found in both plant and animal tissues, where they serve a variety of functions including mechanical adhesion, structural support, pigmentation, radiation protection, and chemical defense. In animals, notable examples are the adhesive proteins secreted by mussels, which are known to contain high levels of 3,4-dihydroxy-L-alanine (DOPA), an amino acid that is believed to be important in adhesion to substrates. In plants, phenolic and polyphenolic compounds containing benzenediol (catechol) and/or benzenetriol (gallol) functional groups are widely distributed secondary metabolites with a variety of biochemical and physical functions. This talk will focus on the identification and understanding of selected biological molecules that are rich in catechol or gallol functional groups, and their use as building blocks for novel biologically inspired multifunctional materials.
In the case of mussel-inspired biomaterials, we are interested in understanding the molecular and mechanochemical aspects of mussel adhesion, and in developing biomimetic polymer hydrogels and coatings from synthetic catechol containing polymers. These biologically inspired materials have a variety of functional uses. For example, rapidly solidifying polymer hydrogels inspired by the role of catechols in mussel adhesion and cross-linking, are being investigated for use in fetal surgery. A summary of preliminary in-vitro and in-vivo evaluations of candidate mussel inspired fetal membrane sealants will be given. A pH-labile interaction between catechol polymer and a boronate containing anticancer therapeutic can be exploited for cancer cell targeting. Furthermore, a large family of multifunctional conformal coatings derived from small molecule catecholamine precursors are being investigated for a variety of biomedical applications.
As for plant polyphenols, we recently began to explore polyphenolic compounds extracted from tea, coffee beans, cacao beans and grapes as building blocks for polymers and thin adherent polymerized films on substrates. Deposition of plant polyphenol coatings is facile on a variety of solid, porous and nanoparticulate substrates composed of metals, ceramics and polymers. In addition to possessing inherent antibacterial and antioxidant properties, the deposited polyphenol films serve as versatile ‘primers’ facilitating secondary modifications of the primer coating such as metallization and covalent grafting of biomolecules and synthetic polymers. These secondary modifications can be exploited for a variety of practical applications, including antibacterial, antioxidant and fouling resistant coatings on medical devices, metal deposition, plasmonic tuning and surface functionalization of nanoparticles.
NIH Grant R37 DE 014193
Keywords:
Biomimetic,
biomaterial,
polymer,
mussel
Conference:
10th World Biomaterials Congress, Montréal, Canada, 17 May - 22 May, 2016.
Presentation Type:
New Frontier Oral
Topic:
Adhesive biomaterials
Citation:
Messersmith
P
(2016). Biological polyphenols as inspiration for biomedical adhesives and coatings.
Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Conference Abstract:
10th World Biomaterials Congress.
doi: 10.3389/conf.FBIOE.2016.01.02469
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Received:
27 Mar 2016;
Published Online:
30 Mar 2016.