A small library of short peptides has been synthesized based upon the repeat tetrapeptide sequence Gly-Val-Ala-Pro (GVAP) which is found in the hydrophobic domain of tropoelastin. Of the five peptides synthesized, four formed self-supporting hydrogels with similar secondary structures. The ability to tune the mechanical properties of the resultant hydrogels was demonstrated, and this is understood in relation to fiber bundling. Finally, the cytotoxicity of these elastin-based short peptide hydrogels towards HeLa cells was assessed, with clear evidence that increased aromaticity of the peptide is detrimental towards cell viability.

中文翻译：

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通过基于弹性蛋白的短肽设计工程生物相容性支架。

根据在原弹性蛋白的疏水域中发现的重复四肽序列Gly-Val-Ala-Pro（GVAP），合成了一个小的短肽文库。在合成的五个肽中，四个形成具有相似二级结构的自支撑水凝胶。证明了调节所得水凝胶的机械性能的能力，这是关于纤维束的理解。最后，评估了这些基于弹性蛋白的短肽水凝胶对HeLa细胞的细胞毒性，有明确的证据表明，增加的肽芳香性不利于细胞活力。