<p class="first" id="P1">The design of materials for regenerative medicine has focused
on delivery of small
molecule drugs, proteins, and cells to help accelerate healing. Additionally, biomaterials
have been designed with covalently attached mimics of growth factors, cytokines, or
key extracellular matrix components allowing the biomaterial itself to drive biological
response. While the approach may vary, the goal of biomaterial design has often centered
on promoting either cellular infiltration, degradation, vascularization, or innervation
of the scaffold. Numerous successful studies have utilized this complex, multicomponent
approach; however, we demonstrate here that a simple nanofibrous peptide hydrogel
unexpectedly and innately promotes all of these regenerative responses when subcutaneously
implanted into the dorsal tissue of healthy rats. Despite containing no small molecule
drugs, cells, proteins or protein mimics, the innate response to this material results
in rapid cellular infiltration, production of a wide range of cytokines and growth
factors by the infiltrating cells, and remodeling of the synthetic material to a natural
collagen-containing ECM. During the remodeling process, a strong angiogenic response
and an unprecedented degree of innervation is observed. Collectively, this simple
peptide-based material provides an ideal foundational system for a variety of bioregenerative
approaches.
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