Reversibly stiffened hydrogels via enzyme-mediated peptide ligation

摘要

In summary, we have established a highly tunable hydrogel system with reversible stiffening/softening post-gelation. Incorporation of simple SrtA peptide substrates permitted predictable and reversible tuning of gel stiffness. This hydrogel system was cytocompatible owing to the specificity of the SrtA peptide substrates. Future work will focus on the role of dynamic matrix stiffening/softening on studying mesenchymal stem cell fate.