(541c) Amino Acid Derived Homo- and Co-Polymeric Microgels As Natural Biomaterials

Multifunctional materials to be used in biomedical applications required to meet complex biological functions are of significant importance. Therefore, biomolecules that are not external to the biological environments have many advantages over synthetic molecules. Thus, the most crucial characteristics of materials for in vivo applications including gene therapy, tissue engineering, drug delivery systems, biosensors, and so forth are necessities of innate biocompatibility, blood compatibility, biodegradability, no immune response, and maybe biodegradability. Hence, amino acids, the building blocks of biological macromolecules, e.g., proteins, enzymes, and peptides, essential to numerous biological functions can be used as biomaterials. Here, amino acid-based non-peptide polymeric microgels were synthesized by micro-emulsion crosslinking technique using tetrakis(hydroxymethyl) phosphonium chloride (THPC) as crosslinker. In the homo and co-polymeric poly(Amino acid) microgel synthesis, L-lysine, L-arginine, and L-cysteine as amino acids were used. The prepared poly(amino acid) microgels were further modified by the treatments with HCl, and NaOH to protonate and deprotonate the prepared microgels, respectively to tune the zeta potential values. The cell toxicity via MTT assay, the blood-compatibility via hemolysis%, and blood clotting indices of the prepared poly(amino acid) microgel were investigated. Furthermore, the antioxidant, antibacterial, and antifungal properties of poly(amino acid) based microgels were investigated. Finally, the hydrolytic degradation and the drug delivery potential of the poly(amino acid) based microgels are investigated.