Modulation of Conductivity of Alginate Hydrogels Containing Reduced Graphene Oxide through the Addition of Proteins
Ahmed Raslan,
Jesús Ciriza,
Ana María Ochoa de Retana,
María Luisa Sanjuán,
Muhammet S. Toprak,
Patricia Galvez-Martin,
Laura Saenz-del-Burgo,
Jose Luis Pedraz
Affiliations
Ahmed Raslan
NanoBioCel Group, Laboratory of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
Jesús Ciriza
Biomedical Research Networking Center in Bioengineering, Biomaterials, and Nanomedicine, CIBER-BBN, Paseo de la Universidad 7, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
Ana María Ochoa de Retana
Department of Organic Chemistry I, Faculty of Pharmacy and Lascaray Research Center, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Paseo de la Universidad 7, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
María Luisa Sanjuán
Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Aragón (Universidad de Zaragoza-CSIC), Facultad de Ciencias, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
Muhammet S. Toprak
Biomedical and X-ray Physics, Department of Applied Physics, KTH-Royal Institute of Technology, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden
Patricia Galvez-Martin
R&D Animal and Human Health, Bioibérica S.A.U., 08029 Barcelona, Spain
Laura Saenz-del-Burgo
NanoBioCel Group, Laboratory of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
Jose Luis Pedraz
NanoBioCel Group, Laboratory of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Technology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, 01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
Modifying hydrogels in order to enhance their conductivity is an exciting field with applications in cardio and neuro-regenerative medicine. Therefore, we have designed hybrid alginate hydrogels containing uncoated and protein-coated reduced graphene oxide (rGO). We specifically studied the adsorption of three different proteins, BSA, elastin, and collagen, and the outcomes when these protein-coated rGO nanocomposites are embedded within the hydrogels. Our results demonstrate that BSA, elastin, and collagen are adsorbed onto the rGO surface, through a non-spontaneous phenomenon that fits Langmuir and pseudo-second-order adsorption models. Protein-coated rGOs are able to preclude further adsorption of erythropoietin, but not insulin. Collagen showed better adsorption capacity than BSA and elastin due to its hydrophobic nature, although requiring more energy. Moreover, collagen-coated rGO hybrid alginate hydrogels showed an enhancement in conductivity, showing that it could be a promising conductive scaffold for regenerative medicine.
