Abstract
Biologically derived hydrogels have attracted attention as promising polymers for use in biomedical applications because of their high biocompatibility, biodegradability, and low toxicity. Elastin-mimetic polypeptides (EMPs), which contain a repeated amino acid sequence derived from the hydrophobic domain of tropoelastin, exhibit reversible phase transition behavior, and thus, represent an interesting starting point for the development of biologically derived hydrogels. In this study, we succeeded in developing functional EMP-conjugated hydrogels that displayed temperature-responsive swelling/shrinking properties. The EMP-conjugated hydrogels were prepared through the polymerization of acrylated EMP with acrylamide. The EMP hydrogel swelled and shrank in response to temperature changes, and the swelling/shrinking capacity of the EMP hydrogels could be controlled by altering either the amount of EMP or the salt concentration in the buffer. The EMP hydrogels were able to select a uniform component of EMPs with a desired and specific repeat number of the EMP sequence, which could control the swelling/shrinking property of the EMP hydrogel. Moreover, we developed a smart hydrogel actuator based on EMP crosslinked hydrogels and non-crosslinked hydrogels that exhibited bidirectional curvature behavior in response to changes in temperature. These thermally responsive EMP hydrogels have potential use as bio-actuators for a number of biomedical applications.