Page 113 - IJB-5-2

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Preparation and printability of ultrashort self-assembling

peptide nanoparticles

Sarah Ghalayini, Hepi Hari Susapto, Sophie Hall, Kowther Kahin, Charlotte A. E. Hauser*

Laboratory for Nanomedicine, Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah
University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Abstract: Nanoparticles (NPs) have left their mark on the field of bioengineering. Fabricated from metallic, magnetic, and
metal oxide materials, their applications include drug delivery, bioimaging, and cell labeling. However, as they enter the body,
the question remains – where do they go after fulfilling their designated function? As most materials used to produce NPs are
not naturally found in the body, they are not biodegradable and may accumulate overtime. There is a lack of comprehensive,
long-term studies assessing the biodistribution of non-biodegradable NPs for even the most widely studied NPs. There is
a clear need for NPs produced from natural materials capable of degradation in vivo. As peptides exist naturally within
the human body, their non-toxic and biocompatible nature comes as no surprise. Ultrashort peptides are aliphatic peptides
designed with three to seven amino acids capable of self-assembling into helical fibers within macromolecular structures.
Using a microfluidics flow-focusing approach, we produced different peptide-based NPs that were then three-dimensional
(3D) printed with our novel printer setup. Herein, we describe the preparation method of NPs from ultrashort self-assembling
peptides and their morphology in both manual and 3D-printed hydrogels, thus suggesting that peptide NPs are capable of
withstanding the stresses involved in the printing process.
Keywords: Nanoparticles; Ultrashort peptides; Self-assembly; Microfluidics; Biomaterials

*Correspondence to: Charlotte A.E. Hauser, Laboratory for Nanomedicine, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Division of
Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering, 4700 Thuwal, 23955-6900, KSA; charlotte.hauser@kaust.edu.sa
Received: July 18, 2019; Accepted: July 24, 2019; Published Online: July 31, 2019

Citation: Ghalayini S, Susapto HH, Hall S, et al., 2019, Preparation and printability of ultrashort self-assembling peptide
nanoparticles. Int J Bioprint, 5(2): 239. http://dx.doi.org/10.18063/ijb.v5i2.239

1. Introduction adverse effects within the host. Gold NPs are perhaps the
most widely studied type in the realm of nanomedicine,
Given the interest surrounding nanomaterials, it is of little and, however, they lack the inherent biodegradability of
surprise that recent advancements have only led to an peptide [5-8] . As they are derived from naturally occurring
increase in the number of applications for nanoparticles amino acids, peptides are biocompatible, biodegradable,
(NPs) in biomedicine, optics, and electronics. Their and generally non-toxic, thus an excellent material choice
unique size- and material-dependent properties have for the production of NPs. Self-assembling peptide has
made them an excellent option in the search for new been used to form NPs of different types such as tubes,
materials to address global challenges . NPs made from vesicles, and hydrogels [9,10] . Various preparation methods
[1]
semiconductors yield quantum confinement , whereas for peptide NPs exist, including pH variation, spray
[2]
NPs produced from metals such as gold and silver, and drying, rapid laminar jet, milling, polymer chain collapse,
magnetic materials exhibit surface plasmon resonance coacervation, and phase separation [11-18] .
and superparamagnetism, respectively [3,4] . For biomedical The intrinsic properties of a material are often
applications, it is crucial to ensure that the material used dependent on its composition, and peptides are no
is biocompatible and non-immunogenic to avoid inducing different. One class of peptides, ultrashort peptides,

Preparation and printability of ultrashort self-assembling peptide nanoparticles © 2019 Ghalayini S, et al. This is an Open Access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), permitting all
non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
109