Coacervation-Mediated Cytocompatible Formation of Supramolecular Hydrogels with Self-Evolving Macropores for 3D Multicellular Spheroid Culture.

Coacervation driven liquid-liquid phase separation of biopolymers has aroused considerable attention for diverse applications, especially for the construction of microstructured polymeric materials. Herein, a coacervate-to-hydrogel transition strategy is developed to create macroporous hydrogels (MPH), which are formed via the coacervation process of supramolecular assemblies (SA) built by the host-guest complexation between γ-cyclodextrin and anthracene dimer. The weak and reversible supramolecular crosslinks endow the SA with liquid-like rheological properties, which facilitate the formation of SA-derived macroporous coacervates and the subsequent transition to MPH (pore size ≈ 100 µm). The excellent structural dynamics (derived from SA) and the cytocompatible void-forming process of MPH can better accommodate the dramatic volumetric expansion associated with colony growth of encapsulated multicellular spheroids compared with the non-porous static hydrogel with similar initial mechanical properties. The findings of this work not only provide valuable guidance to the design of biomaterials with self-evolving structures but also present a promising strategy for 3D multicellular spheroid culture and other diverse biomedical applications.

Coacervate-Derived Hydrogel with Effective Water Repulsion and Robust Underwater Bioadhesion Promotes Wound Healing.

Achieving robust underwater adhesion by bioadhesives remains a challenge due to interfacial water. Herein a coacervate-to-hydrogel strategy to enhance interfacial water repulsion and bulk adhesion of bioadhesives is reported. The polyethyleneimine/thioctic acid (PEI/TA) coacervate is deposited onto underwater substrates, which can effectively repel interfacial water and completely spread into substrate surface irregularities due to its liquid and water-immiscible nature. The physical interactions between coacervate and substrate can further enhance interfacial adhesion. Furthermore, driven by the spontaneous hydrophobic aggregation of TA molecules and strong electrostatic interaction between PEI and TA, the coacervate can turn into a hydrogel in situ within minutes without additional stimuli to develop enhanced matrix cohesion and robust bulk adhesion on diverse underwater substrates. Molecular dynamics simulations further reveal atomistic details of the formation and wet adhesion of the PEI/TA coacervate via multimode physical interactions. Lastly, it is demonstrated that the PEI/TA coacervate-derived hydrogel can effectively repel blood and therefore efficiently deliver the carried growth factors at wound sites, thereby enhancing wound healing in an animal model. The advantages of the PEI/TA coacervate-derived hydrogel including body fluid-immiscibility, strong underwater adhesion, adaptability to fit irregular target sites, and excellent biocompatibility make it a promising bioadhesive for diverse biomedical applications.

Dynamic gelatin-based hydrogels promote the proliferation and self-renewal of embryonic stem cells in long-term 3D culture.

Long-term maintenance of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) in the undifferentiated state is still challenging. Compared with traditional 2D culture methods, 3D culture in biomaterials such as hydrogels is expected to better support the long-term self-renewal of ESCs by emulating the biophysical and biochemical properties of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Although prior studies showed that soft and degradable hydrogels favor the 3D growth of ESCs, few studies have examined the impact of the structural dynamics of the hydrogel matrix on ESC behaviors. Herein, we report a gelatin-based structurally dynamic hydrogel (GelCD hydrogel) that emulates the intrinsic structural dynamics of the ECM. Compared with covalently crosslinked gelatin hydrogels (GelMA hydrogels) with similar stiffness and biodegradability, GelCD hydrogels significantly promote the clonal expansion and viability of encapsulated mouse ESCs (mESCs) independent of MMP-mediated hydrogel degradation. Furthermore, GelCD hydrogels better maintain the pluripotency of encapsulated mESCs than do traditional 2D culture methods that use MEF feeder cells or medium supplementation with GSK3ß and MEK 1/2 inhibitors (2i). When cultured in GelCD hydrogels for an extended period (over 2 months) with cell passaging every 7 days, mESCs preserve their normal morphology and maintain their pluripotency and full differentiation capability. Our findings highlight the critical role of the structural dynamics of the hydrogel matrix in accommodating the volume expansion that occurs during clonal ESC growth, and we believe that our dynamic hydrogels represent a valuable tool to support the long-term 3D culture of ESCs.

Molecular Analysis of Caprine Enterovirus Circulating in China during 2016-2021: Evolutionary Significance.

Here, we report the characterization of 13 novel caprine/ovine enterovirus strains isolated from different regions in China during 2016-2021. Immunoperoxidase monolayer assay showed that these viral strains shared strong cross-reaction with the previously reported caprine enterovirus CEV-JL14. Alignment analysis of the complete nucleotide sequences revealed 79.2%-87.8% and 75.0%-76.7% sequence identity of these novel caprine enterovirus strains to CEV-JL14 and TB4-OEV, respectively. Phylogenetic analyses clustered these novel strains to EV-G based on the amino acid sequences of P1 and 2C+3CD. Moreover, phylogenetic analysis of these caprine enterovirus strains identified three new EV-G types using VP1 sequences. These results demonstrate the genetic variations and the evolution of caprine enterovirus.

Biomaterial-Mediated Presentation of Jagged-1 Mimetic Ligand Enhances Cellular Activation of Notch Signaling and Bone Regeneration.

The development from stem cells to adult tissues requires the delicate presentation of numerous crucial inductive cues and the activation of associated signaling pathways. The Notch signaling pathways triggered by ligands such as Jagged-1 have been demonstrated to be essential in various development processes especially in osteogenesis and ossification. However, few studies have capitalized on the osteoinductivity of the Jagged-1 mimetic ligands to enhance the osteogenesis and skeleton regeneration. In this study, we conjugate the porous hyaluronic acid hydrogels with a Jagged-1 mimetic peptide ligand (Jagged-1) and investigate the efficacy of such biomimetic functionalization to promote the mechanotransduction and osteogenesis of human mesenchymal stem cells by activating the Notch signaling pathway. Our findings indicate that the immobilized Jagged-1 mimetic ligand activates Notch signaling via the upregulation of NICD and downstream MSX2, leading to the enhanced mechanotransduction and osteogenesis of stem cells. We further demonstrate that the functionalization of the Jagged-1 ligand in the porous scaffold promotes angiogenesis, regulates macrophage recruitment and polarization, and enhances in situ regeneration of rat calvarial defects. Our findings provide valuable guidance to the design of development-inspired bioactive biomaterials for diverse biomedical applications.

Biomaterial-mediated presentation of wnt5a mimetic ligands enhances chondrogenesis and metabolism of stem cells by activating non-canonical Wnt signaling.

The presentation of development-relevant bioactive cues by biomaterial scaffolds is essential to the guided differentiation of seeded human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) and subsequent tissue regeneration. Wnt5a is a critical non-canonical Wnt signaling ligand and plays a key role in the development of musculoskeletal tissues including cartilage. Herein we investigate the efficacy of biofunctionalizing the hyaluronic acid hydrogel with a synthetic Wnt5a mimetic ligand (Foxy5 peptide) to promote the chondrogenesis of hMSCs and the potential underlying molecular mechanism. Our findings show that the conjugation of Foxy5 peptide in the hydrogels activates non-canonical Wnt signaling of encapsulated hMSCs via the upregulation expression of PLCE1, CaMKII-ß, and downstream NFATc1, leading to enhanced expression of chondrogenic markers such as SOX9. The decoration of Foxy5 peptide also promotes the metabolic activities of encapsulated hMSCs as evidenced by upregulated gene expression of mitochondrial complex components and glucose metabolism biomarkers, leading to enhanced ATP biosynthesis. Furthermore, the conjugation of Foxy5 peptide activates the non-canonical Wnt, PI3K-PDK-AKT and IKK/NF-κB signaling pathways, thereby inhibiting the hypertrophy of the chondrogenically induced hMSCs in the hydrogels under both in vitro and in vivo conditions. This enhanced chondrogenesis and attenuated hypertrophy of hMSCs by the biomaterial-mediated bioactive cue presentation facilitates the potential clinical translation of hMSCs for cartilage regeneration. Our work provides valuable guidance to the rational design of bio-inductive scaffolds for various applications in regenerative medicine.

Nanoparticle-assembled bioadhesive coacervate coating with prolonged gastrointestinal retention for inflammatory bowel disease therapy.

A key challenge for the effective treatment of gastrointestinal diseases including inflammatory bowel disease is to develop an orally administered drug delivery system capable of prolonged retention in the gastrointestinal tract. Herein we report a bioadhesive liquid coacervate based on hydrogen bonding-driven nanoparticle assembly. Free from electrostatic interactions, our fluid nanoparticle-assembled coacervate demonstrates significant pH- and salt-independent structural stability and forms a physically adhesive coating on a large surface area of intestinal tract with an extended residence time of more than 2 days to mediate the sustained release of preloaded water-soluble small molecule drugs in vivo. The orally administered drug-laden nanoparticle-assembled coacervate significantly mitigates the symptoms of inflammatory bowel disease, restores the diversity of gut microbiota, reduces systemic drug exposure, and improves the therapeutic efficacy in a rat acute colitis model compared with the oral administration of the same amount of drug in solution form. We suggest that the nanoparticle-assembled coacervate provides a promising drug delivery platform for management and treatment of numerous gastrointestinal diseases where controlled drug release with extended residence time is desired.

Biomimetic Presentation of Cryptic Ligands via Single-Chain Nanogels for Synergistic Regulation of Stem Cells.

Dynamic controlling the nanoscale presentation of synergistic ligands to stem cells by biomimetic single-chain materials can provide critical insights to understand the molecular crosstalk underlying cells and their extracellular matrix. Here, a stimuli-responsive single-chain macromolecular nanoregulator with conformational dynamics is fabricated based on an advanced scale-up single polymeric chain nanogel (SCNG). Such a carefully designed SCNG is capable of mediating a triggered copresentation of the master and cryptic ligands in a single molecule to elicit the synergistic crosstalk between different intracellular signaling pathways, thereby considerably boosting the bioactivity of the presented ligands. This controllable nanoswitching-on of cell-adhesive ligands' presentation allows the regulation of cell adhesion and fate from molecular scale. The modular nature of this synthetic macromolecular nanoregulator makes it a versatile nanomaterial platform to assist basic and fundamental studies in a wide array of research topics.

Synthetic presentation of noncanonical Wnt5a motif promotes mechanosensing-dependent differentiation of stem cells and regeneration.

Noncanonical Wnt signaling in stem cells is essential to numerous developmental events. However, no prior studies have capitalized on the osteoinductive potential of noncanonical Wnt ligands to functionalize biomaterials in enhancing the osteogenesis and associated skeleton formation. Here, we investigated the efficacy of the functionalization of biomaterials with a synthetic Wnt5a mimetic ligand (Foxy5 peptide) to promote the mechanosensing and osteogenesis of human mesenchymal stem cells by activating noncanonical Wnt signaling. Our findings showed that the immobilized Wnt5a mimetic ligand activated noncanonical Wnt signaling via the up-regulation of Disheveled 2 and downstream RhoA-ROCK signaling, leading to enhanced intracellular calcium level, F-actin stability, actomyosin contractility, and cell adhesion structure development. This enhanced mechanotransduction in stem cells promoted the in vitro osteogenic lineage commitment and the in vivo healing of rat calvarial defects. Our work provides valuable guidance for the developmentally inspired design of biomaterials for a wide array of therapeutic applications.

A novel enterovirus species identified from severe diarrheal goats.

BACKGROUNDS: The Enterovirus genus of the family of Picornaviridae consists of 9 species of Enteroviruses and 3 species of Rhinoviruses based on the latest virus taxonomy. Those viruses contribute significantly to respiratory and digestive disorders in human and animals. Out of 9 Enterovirus species, Enterovirus E-G are closely related to diseases affecting on livestock industry. While enterovirus infection has been increasingly reported in cattle and swine, the enterovirus infections in small ruminants remain largely unknown. METHODS: Virology, molecular and bioinformatics methods were employed to characterize a novel enterovirus CEV-JL14 from goats manifesting severe diarrhea with morbidity and mortality respectively up to 84% and 54% in China. RESULTS: CEV-JL14 was defined and proposed as a new Enterovirus species L within the genus of Enterovirus of the family Picornaviridae. CEV-JL14 had a complete genome sequence of 7461 nucleotides with an ORF encoding 2172 amino acids, and shared 77.1% of genomic sequence identity with TB4-OEV, an ovine enterovirus. Comparison of 5'-UTR and structural genes of CEV-JL14 with known Enterovirus species revealed highly genetic variations among CEV-JL14 with known Enterovirus species. VP1 nucleotide sequence identities of CEV-14 were 51.8%-53.5% with those of Enterovirus E and F, 30.9%-65.3% with Enterovirus G, and 43.8-51. 5% with Enterovirus A-D, respectively. CEV-JL14 was proposed as a novel species within the genus of Enterovirus according to the current ICTV demarcation criteria of enteroviruses. CONCLUSIONS: CEV-JL14 clustered phylogenetically to neither Enterovirus E and F, nor to Enterovirus G. It was defined and proposed as novel species L within the genus of Enterovirus. This is the first report of caprine enterovirus in China, the first complete genomic sequence of a caprine enterovirus revealed, and the unveiling of significant genetic variations between ovine enterovirus and caprine enterovirus, thus broadening the current understanding of enteroviruses.