The Unexpected Advantages of Using D-Amino Acids for Peptide Self- Assembly into Nanostructured Hydrogels for Medicine

Title:The Unexpected Advantages of Using D-Amino Acids for Peptide Self- Assembly into Nanostructured Hydrogels for Medicine

Volume: 16 Issue: 18

Author(s): Michele Melchionna, Katie E. Styan and Silvia Marchesan

Affiliation:

Keywords: Chirality, D-Amino acids, Enantiomers, Heterochiral, Hydrogels, Nanomaterials, Peptides, Self-assembly.

Abstract: Self-assembled peptide hydrogels have brought innovation to the medicinal field, not only as responsive biomaterials but also as nanostructured therapeutic agents or as smart drug delivery systems. D-amino acids are typically introduced to increase the peptide enzymatic stability. However, there are several reports of unexpected effects on peptide conformation, self-assembly behavior, cytotoxicity and even therapeutic activity. This mini-review discusses all the surprising twists of heterochiral self-assembled peptide hydrogels, and delineates emerging key findings to exploit all the benefits of D-amino acids in this novel medicinal area.

Cite this article as:

Melchionna Michele, E. Styan Katie and Marchesan Silvia, The Unexpected Advantages of Using D-Amino Acids for Peptide Self- Assembly into Nanostructured Hydrogels for Medicine, Current Topics in Medicinal Chemistry 2016; 16 (18) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1568026616999160212120302