Physically cross-linked supramolecular polymers composed of a hydrophobic poly(epichlorohydrin) backbone with hydrogen-bonding cytosine pendant groups and hydrophilic poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) side chains spontaneously self-assemble to form highly controlled, reversible supramolecular polymer networks (SPNs) because of cytosine-induced transient cross-linking. Owing to their simple synthesis procedure and ease of tuning the cytosine and PEG contents to obtain varying degrees of SPNs within the polymer matrix, the resulting polymers exhibit a unique surface morphology, wide-range tunable mechanical/rheological properties, and surface wettability behavior as well as high biocompatibility and structural stability in normal cell- and red blood cell-rich media. Cell culture experiments and fluorescent images clearly demonstrated that the incorporation of cytosine and PEG units into the SPN-based polymer substrates efficiently promoted cellular attachment and accelerated cell growth. Importantly, scratch wound-healing assays revealed that the cytosine-functionalized substrates promoted rapid cell spreading and migration into the damaged cellular surface and accelerated the wound-healing rate. These results indicate that the presence of cytosine units within polymer substrates is crucial for the construction of multifunctional tissue engineering scaffolds with tailorable physical characteristics in order to promote cell adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation.

中文翻译：

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胞嘧啶功能化的超分子聚合物介导的细胞行为和伤口愈合。

物理交联的超分子聚合物，由具有氢键合胞嘧啶侧基和疏水性聚乙二醇（PEG）侧链的疏水性聚（表氯醇）主链组成，可自发自组装以形成高度可控，可逆的超分子聚合物网络（SPN）由于胞嘧啶诱导的瞬时交联。由于其简单的合成过程以及易于调节胞嘧啶和PEG含量以在聚合物基质中获得不同程度的SPN，所得聚合物表现出独特的表面形态，宽范围的可调节机械/流变性质以及表面润湿性在正常的富含细胞和红细胞的培养基中具有很高的生物相容性和结构稳定性。细胞培养实验和荧光图像清楚地表明，将胞嘧啶和PEG单元掺入基于SPN的聚合物基质中可以有效地促进细胞附着并加速细胞生长。重要的是，从头开始的伤口愈合试验表明，胞嘧啶官能化的底物可促进细胞快速扩散并迁移到受损的细胞表面，并加快伤口愈合速度。这些结果表明，聚合物底物中胞嘧啶单元的存在对于构建具有可定制物理特征的多功能组织工程支架至关重要，以促进细胞粘附，增殖和分化。重要的是，从头开始的伤口愈合试验表明，胞嘧啶官能化的底物可促进细胞快速扩散并迁移到受损的细胞表面，并加快伤口愈合速度。这些结果表明，聚合物底物中胞嘧啶单元的存在对于构建具有可定制物理特征的多功能组织工程支架至关重要，以促进细胞粘附，增殖和分化。重要的是，从头开始的伤口愈合试验表明，胞嘧啶官能化的底物可促进细胞快速扩散并迁移到受损的细胞表面，并加快伤口愈合速度。这些结果表明，聚合物底物中胞嘧啶单元的存在对于构建具有可定制物理特征的多功能组织工程支架至关重要，以促进细胞粘附，增殖和分化。