Engineering Protein Coacervates into a Robust Adhesive for Real-Time Skin Healing
Ming Li,
Baimei Liu,
Wei Xu,
Lai Zhao,
Zili Wang,
Haonan He,
Jingjing Li,
Fan Wang,
Chao Ma,
Kai Liu,
Hongjie Zhang
Affiliations
Ming Li
State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China; School of Applied Chemistry and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
Baimei Liu
State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China
Wei Xu
Department of Orthopedics, Tongren Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200336, China; Corresponding authors.
Lai Zhao
State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China
Zili Wang
State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China
Haonan He
State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China
Jingjing Li
State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China
Fan Wang
State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China
Chao Ma
Engineering Research Center of Advanced Rare Earth Materials, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Corresponding authors.
Kai Liu
State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China; School of Applied Chemistry and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China; Engineering Research Center of Advanced Rare Earth Materials, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Xiangfu Laboratory, Jiaxing 314102, China; Corresponding authors.
Hongjie Zhang
State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Resource Utilization, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China; School of Applied Chemistry and Engineering, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China; Engineering Research Center of Advanced Rare Earth Materials, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Xiangfu Laboratory, Jiaxing 314102, China
Adhesives have attracted a great deal of attention as an advanced modality in biomedical engineering because of their unique wound management behavior. However, it is a grand challenge for current adhesive systems to achieve robust adhesion due to their tenuous interfacial bonding strength. Moreover, the absence of dynamic adaptability in conventional chemical adhesives restricts neoblasts around the wound from migrating to the site, resulting in an inferior tissue-regeneration effect. Herein, an extracellular matrix-derived biocomposite adhesive with robust adhesion and a real-time skin healing effect is well-engineered. Liquid–liquid phase separation is well-harnessed to drive the assembly of the biocomposite adhesive, with the active involvement of supramolecular interactions between chimeric protein and natural DNA, leading to a robustly reinforced adhesion performance. The bioadhesive exhibits outstanding adhesion and sealing behaviors, with a sheared adhesion strength of approximately 18 MPa, outperforming its reported counterparts. Moreover, the engineered bioderived components endow this adhesive material with biocompatibility and exceptional biological functions including the promotion of cell proliferation and migration, such that the use of this material eventually yields real-time in situ skin regeneration. This work opens up novel avenues for functionalized bioadhesive engineering and biomedical translations.
