| 초록 |
The hydrogel is a three-dimensional cross-linked hydrophilic polymer with multiple advantages such as high biocompatibility, biodegradability, high water content and controllable drug release rate. Also, the aptamer is a either DNA or RNA nucleotides with affinities comparable to antibodies as well as high specificity and affinity towards the target with nanomolar to picomolar range. In this presentation, we will report DNA aptamer-incorporated hydrogels whose macroscopic volume is changed through an inducement of the binding events of aptamer-target recognition. We synthesized multi-arm PEG based hydrogels and K+ aptamers so that both can be covalently attached. By adding K+ ions, the macroscopic volume shrinkage of hydrogels is achieved due to the formation of the G-quadruplex structure between the linear aptamers and K+ ions, leading to the decreased microscopic volume. This stimuli-responsive hydrogel will be applied to sustained drug delivery systems. |
