Bioinspired Bioadhesive Polymers: Dopa-Modified Poly(acrylic acid) Derivatives

摘要

The one-step synthesis and characterization of novel bioinspired bioadhesive polymers that contain Dopa, implicated in the extremely adhesive byssal fibers of certain gastropods, is reported. The novel polymers consist of combinations of either of two polyanhydride backbones and one of three amino acids, phenylalanine, tyrosine, or Dopa, grafted as side chains. Dopa-grafted hydrophobic backbone polymers exhibit as much as 2.5× the fracture strength and 2.8× the tensile work of bioadhesion of a commercially available poly(acrylic acid) derivative as tested on live, excised, rat intestinal tissue. Photograph of a bioinspired-polymer-coated spherical probe being retracted from rat small-intestinal mucus. The necking of the mucus in response to the movement of the probe shows the strong bioadhesive nature of the bioinspired polymer. Dopa-functional, mussel-mimetic bioadhesive polymers for use in oral drug delivery are described.