3D Printing of Supramolecular Polymer Hydrogels with Hierarchical Structure.

Liquid crystalline hydrogels are an attractive class of soft materials to direct charge transport, mechanical actuation, and cell migration. When such systems contain supramolecular polymers, it is possible in principle to easily shear align nanoscale structures and create bulk anisotropic properties. However, reproducibly fabricating and patterning aligned supramolecular domains in 3D hydrogels remains a challenge using conventional fabrication techniques. Here, a method is reported for 3D printing of ionically crosslinked liquid crystalline hydrogels from aqueous supramolecular polymer inks. Using a combination of experimental techniques and molecular dynamics simulations, it is found that pH and salt concentration govern intermolecular interactions among the self-assembled structures where lower charge densities on the supramolecular polymers and higher charge screening from the electrolyte result in higher viscosity inks. Enhanced hierarchical interactions among assemblies in high viscosity inks increase the printability and ultimately lead to greater nanoscale alignment in extruded macroscopic filaments when using small nozzle diameters and fast print speeds. The use of this approach is demonstrated to create materials with anisotropic ionic and electronic charge transport as well as scaffolds that trigger the macroscopic alignment of cells due to the synergy of supramolecular self-assembly and additive manufacturing.

Stealth filaments: Polymer chain length and conformation affect the in vivo fate of PEGylated potato virus X.

Nanoparticles hold great promise for delivering medical cargos to cancerous tissues to enhance contrast and sensitivity of imaging agents or to increase specificity and efficacy of therapeutics. A growing body of data suggests that nanoparticle shape, in combination with surface chemistry, affects their in vivo fates, with elongated filaments showing enhanced tumor targeting and tissue penetration, while promoting immune evasion. The synthesis of high aspect ratio filamentous materials at the nanoscale remains challenging using synthetic routes; therefore we turned toward nature's materials, developing and studying the filamentous structures formed by the plant virus potato virus X (PVX). We recently demonstrated that PVX shows enhanced tumor homing in various preclinical models. Like other nanoparticle systems, the proteinaceous platform is cleared from circulation and tissues by the mononuclear phagocyte system (MPS). To increase bioavailability we set out to develop PEGylated stealth filaments and evaluate the effects of PEG chain length and conformation on pharmacokinetics, biodistribution, as well as potential immune and inflammatory responses. We demonstrate that PEGylation effectively reduces immune recognition while increasing pharmacokinetic profiles. Stealth filaments show reduced interaction with cells of the MPS; the protein:polymer hybrids are cleared from the body tissues within hours to days indicating biodegradability and biocompatibility. Tissue compatibility is indicated with no apparent inflammatory signaling in vivo. Tailoring PEG chain length and conformation (brush vs. mushroom) allows tuning of the pharmacokinetics, yielding long-circulating stealth filaments for applications in nanomedicine.