抗原变异可使得多种致病微生物易于逃避宿主免疫应答。表达在感染红细胞表面的恶性疟原虫红细胞表面蛋白1（PfPMP1）与感染红细胞、内皮细胞、树突状细胞以及胎盘的单个或多个受体作用，在黏附及免疫逃避中起关键的作用。每个单倍体基因组var基因家族编码约60种成员，通过启动转录不同的var基因变异体为抗原变异提供了分子基础。

疟原虫var基因转换速率变化导致抗原变异[英]／Paul H, Robert P, Christodoulou Z, et al//Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Hydrogels with improved mechanical properties, made by combining polymer networks with ionic and covalent crosslinks, should expand the scope of applications, and may serve as model systems to explore mechanisms of deformation and energy dissipation. Hydrogels are used in flexible contact lenses, as scaffolds for tissue engineering and in drug delivery. Their poor mechanical properties have so far limited the scope of their applications, but new strong and stretchy materials reported here could take hydrogels into uncharted territories. The new system involves a double-network gel, with one network forming ionic crosslinks and the other forming covalent crosslinks. The fracture energy of these materials is very high: they can stretch to beyond 17 times their own length even when containing defects that usually initiate crack formation in hydrogels. The materials' toughness is attributed to crack bridging by the covalent network accompanied by energy dissipation through unzipping of the ionic crosslinks in the second network. Hydrogels are used as scaffolds for tissue engineering1, vehicles for drug delivery2, actuators for optics and fluidics3, and model extracellular matrices for biological studies4. The scope of hydrogel applications, however, is often severely limited by their mechanical behaviour5. Most hydrogels do not exhibit high stretchability; for example, an alginate hydrogel ruptures when stretched to about 1.2 times its original length. Some synthetic elastic hydrogels6,7 have achieved stretches in the range 10–20, but these values are markedly reduced in samples containing notches. Most hydrogels are brittle, with fracture energies of about 10 J m−2 (ref. 8), as compared with ∼1,000 J m−2 for cartilage9 and ∼10,000 J m−2 for natural rubbers10. Intense efforts are devoted to synthesizing hydrogels with improved mechanical properties11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18; certain synthetic gels have reached fracture energies of 100–1,000 J m−2 (refs 11, 14, 17). Here we report the synthesis of hydrogels from polymers forming ionically and covalently crosslinked networks. Although such gels contain ∼90% water, they can be stretched beyond 20 times their initial length, and have fracture energies of ∼9,000 J m−2. Even for samples containing notches, a stretch of 17 is demonstrated. We attribute the gels’ toughness to the synergy of two mechanisms: crack bridging by the network of covalent crosslinks, and hysteresis by unzipping the network of ionic crosslinks. Furthermore, the network of covalent crosslinks preserves the memory of the initial state, so that much of the large deformation is removed on unloading. The unzipped ionic crosslinks cause internal damage, which heals by re-zipping. These gels may serve as model systems to explore mechanisms of deformation and energy dissipation, and expand the scope of hydrogel applications.

/pdf/highly-stretchable-and-tough-hydrogels-4ocu3amojx.pdf

Highly stretchable and tough hydrogels

BACKGROUND Hydrogels are formed through the cross-linking of hydrophilic polymer chains within an aqueous microenvironment. The gelation can be achieved through a variety of mechanisms, spanning physical entanglement of polymer chains, electrostatic interactions, and covalent chemical cross-linking. The water-rich nature of hydrogels makes them broadly applicable to many areas, including tissue engineering, drug delivery, soft electronics, and actuators. Conventional hydrogels usually possess limited mechanical strength and are prone to permanent breakage. The lack of desired dynamic cues and structural complexity within the hydrogels has further limited their functions. Broadened applications of hydrogels, however, require advanced engineering of parameters such as mechanics and spatiotemporal presentation of active or bioactive moieties, as well as manipulation of multiscale shape, structure, and architecture. ADVANCES Hydrogels with substantially improved physicochemical properties have been enabled by rational design at the molecular level and control over multiscale architecture. For example, formulations that combine permanent polymer networks with reversibly bonding chains for energy dissipation show strong toughness and stretchability. Similar strategies may also substantially enhance the bonding affinity of hydrogels at interfaces with solids by covalently anchoring the polymer networks of tough hydrogels onto solid surfaces. Shear-thinning hydrogels that feature reversible bonds impart a fluidic nature upon application of shear forces and return back to their gel states once the forces are released. Self-healing hydrogels based on nanomaterial hybridization, electrostatic interactions, and slide-ring configurations exhibit excellent abilities in spontaneously healing themselves after damages. Additionally, harnessing techniques that can dynamically and precisely configure hydrogels have resulted in flexibility to regulate their architecture, activity, and functionality. Dynamic modulations of polymer chain physics and chemistry can lead to temporal alteration of hydrogel structures in a programmed manner. Three-dimensional printing enables architectural control of hydrogels at high precision, with a potential to further integrate elements that enable change of hydrogel configurations along prescribed paths. OUTLOOK We envision the continuation of innovation in new bioorthogonal chemistries for making hydrogels, enabling their fabrication in the presence of biological species without impairing cellular or biomolecule functions. We also foresee opportunities in the further development of more sophisticated fabrication methods that allow better-controlled hydrogel architecture across multiple length scales. In addition, technologies that precisely regulate the physicochemical properties of hydrogels in spatiotemporally controlled manners are crucial in controlling their dynamics, such as degradation and dynamic presentation of biomolecules. We believe that the fabrication of hydrogels should be coupled with end applications in a feedback loop in order to achieve optimal designs through iterations. In the end, it is the combination of multiscale constituents and complementary strategies that will enable new applications of this important class of materials.

/pdf/advances-in-engineering-hydrogels-1gju2afbgf.pdf

Advances in engineering hydrogels

Hydrogels attract great attention as biomaterials as a result of their soft and wet nature, similar to that of biological tissues. Recent inventions of several tough hydrogels show their potential as structural biomaterials, such as cartilage. Any given application, however, requires a combination of mechanical properties including stiffness, strength, toughness, damping, fatigue resistance and self-healing, along with biocompatibility. This combination is rarely realized. Here, we report that polyampholytes, polymers bearing randomly dispersed cationic and anionic repeat groups, form tough and viscoelastic hydrogels with multiple mechanical properties. The randomness makes ionic bonds of a wide distribution of strength. The strong bonds serve as permanent crosslinks, imparting elasticity, whereas the weak bonds reversibly break and re-form, dissipating energy. These physical hydrogels of supramolecular structure can be tuned to change multiple mechanical properties over wide ranges by using diverse ionic combinations. This polyampholyte approach is synthetically simple and dramatically increases the choice of tough hydrogels for applications.

https://eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2115/56662/1/Gong-Manuscript-1.pdf

Physical hydrogels composed of polyampholytes demonstrate high toughness and viscoelasticity

A mean-field phase diagram for conformationally symmetric diblock melts using the standard Gaussian polymer model is presented. Our calculation, which traverses the weak- to strong-segregation regimes, is free of traditional approximations. Regions of stability are determined for disordered (DIS) melts and for ordered structures including lamellae (L), hexagonally packed cylinders (H), body-centered cubic spheres (QIm3m), close-packed spheres (CPS), and the bicontinuous cubic network with Ia3d symmetry (QIa3d). The CPS phase exists in narrow regions along the order−disorder transition for χN ≥ 17.67. Results suggest that the QIa3d phase is not stable above χN ∼ 60. Along the L/QIa3d phase boundaries, a hexagonally perforated lamellar (HPL) phase is found to be nearly stable. Our results for the bicontinuous Pn3m cubic (QPn3m) phase, known as the OBDD, indicate that it is an unstable structure in diblock melts. Earlier approximation schemes used to examine mean-field behavior are reviewed, and compa...

Unifying Weak- and Strong-Segregation Block Copolymer Theories

High strength hydrogels were made by ionically cross-linking the polyelectrolyte midblock of a self-assembled, amphiphilic triblock copolymer network The polymer backbone consisted of glassy, sphe

Ionically Cross-Linked Triblock Copolymer Hydrogels with High Strength

https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1001&context=msepubs

Strain Stiffening in Synthetic and Biopolymer Networks

We report a replication route to non-planar, three dimensional microlens arrays with an antireflective surface nanopattern. Our methodology uses the surface topography of the Attacus atlas moth's compound eye and a soft lithographic technique to fabricate topographically faithful moulds that, in turn, are used to reproducibly replicate the original eye surface with nanoscale fidelity. In addition to antireflection, the resulting poly(urethane) replica with its “moth-eye” nanopattern also exhibits increased hydrophobicity relative to the unpatterned polymer. The materials flexibility of the perfluoropolyether mould fabricated viareplica moulding enables, for example, the embossing of antireflective nanopatterns in the photoactive materials of organic solar cells.

Biomimetic microlens array with antireflective “moth-eye” surface

Drop shape analysis of pendant drops is a commonly used technique to measure the interfacial tension of liquid–vapor or liquid–liquid interfaces. The technique is increasingly being used to investigate the mechanical response of molecular structures that form at these interfaces as well, utilizing analysis techniques developed by the solid mechanics community. The aim of this highlight is to summarize the formal analysis methods needed to analyze these types of experiments and to make the connection between liquid-like behavior of the interface, and the more general solid-like case where the two principal interfacial tensions are not necessarily equal to one another. Several illustrative examples are used to accomplish this, including protein complexes formed at the oil–water interface, ionically crosslinked block copolymer monolayers at oil–water interfaces, and block copolymer-based thermoplastic elastomers at the air–water interface. In addition to describing the mechanical analysis of these types of experiments, we provide a stability map that defines the experimental window within which useful pendant drop experiments can be conducted for interfacial layers with liquid-like behavior.

Mechanics of pendant drops and axisymmetric membranes

The role of solvent selectivity has been explored extensively with regard to its role in the phase behavior of block copolymer assemblies. Traditionally, thermally induced phase separation is employed for generating micelles upon cooling a block copolymer dissolved in a selective solvent. However few amphiphilic, polyelectrolyte-containing block copolymers demonstrate a thermally accessible route of micellization, and solvent exchange routes are frequently employed instead. Here, we describe the use of mixed solvents for obtaining thermoreversible gelation behavior of poly(methyl methacrylate)-poly(methacrylic acid)-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA–PMAA–PMMA) triblock copolymers. One solvent component (dimethyl sulfoxide) is a good solvent for both blocks, and the second solvent component (water) is a selective solvent for the polymer midblock. Rheological frequency sweeps at variable solvent compositions and temperatures demonstrate an adherence to time–temperature–composition superposition, so that chang...

Kevin J. Henderson

Papers

Ionically Cross-Linked Triblock Copolymer Hydrogels with High Strength

Strain Stiffening in Synthetic and Biopolymer Networks

Biomimetic microlens array with antireflective “moth-eye” surface

Mechanics of pendant drops and axisymmetric membranes

Effects of Solvent Composition on the Assembly and Relaxation of Triblock Copolymer-Based Polyelectrolyte Gels