Rational multivalency construction enables bactericidal effect amplification and dynamic biomaterial design

Xu Chen; Xinrui Li; Wenbo He; Miao Wang; Ang Gao; Liping Tong; Shun Guo; Huaiyu Wang; Guoqing Pan

doi:10.1016/j.xinn.2023.100483

Rational multivalency construction enables bactericidal effect amplification and dynamic biomaterial design

Innovation (Camb). 2023 Jul 13;4(5):100483. doi: 10.1016/j.xinn.2023.100483. eCollection 2023 Sep 11.

Authors

Xu Chen¹, Xinrui Li¹, Wenbo He¹, Miao Wang¹, Ang Gao², Liping Tong², Shun Guo¹, Huaiyu Wang², Guoqing Pan¹

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Advanced Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China.
² Institute of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen 518055, China.

Abstract

The multivalency of bioligands in living systems brings inspiration for not only the discovery of biological mechanisms but also the design of extracellular matrix (ECM)-mimicking biomaterials. However, designing controllable multivalency construction strategies is still challenging. Herein, we synthesized a series of well-defined multivalent antimicrobial peptide polymers (mAMPs) by clicking ligand molecules onto polymers prepared by reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerization. The multiple cationic ligands in the mAMPs could enhance the local disturbance of the anionic phospholipid layer of the bacterial membrane through multivalent binding, leading to amplification of the bactericidal effect. In addition to multivalency-enhanced antibacterial activity, mAMPs also enable multivalency-assisted hydrogel fabrication with an ECM-like dynamic structure. The resultant hydrogel with self-healing and injectable properties could be successfully employed as an antibacterial biomaterial scaffold to treat infected skin wounds. The multivalency construction strategy presented in this work provides new ideas for the biomimetic design of highly active and dynamic biomaterials for tissue repair and regeneration.