Stimuli-responsive materials are very attractive candidates for on-demand drug delivery applications. Precise control over therapeutic agents in a local area is particularly enticing to regulate the biological repair process and promote tissue regeneration. Macromolecular therapeutics are difficult to embed for delivery, and achieving controlled release over long-term periods, which is required for tissue repair and regeneration, is challenging. Biohybrid composites incorporating natural biopolymers and electroconductive/active moieties are emerging as functional materials to be used as coatings, implants or scaffolds in regenerative medicine. Here, we report the development of electroresponsive biohybrid composites based on Bombyx mori silkworm fibroin and reduced graphene oxide that are electrostatically loaded with a high-molecular-weight therapeutic (i.e., 26 kDa nerve growth factor-β (NGF-β)). NGF-β-loaded composite films were shown to control the release of the drug over a 10-day period in a pulsatile fashion upon the on/off application of an electrical stimulus. The results shown here pave the way for personalized and biologically responsive scaffolds, coatings and implantable devices to be used in neural tissue engineering applications, and could be translated to other electrically sensitive tissues as well.

中文翻译：

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用于电化学控制生长因子传递的电响应性丝基生物杂化复合材料。

刺激响应材料是按需药物递送应用的非常有吸引力的候选者。在局部区域对治疗剂的精确控制特别有利于调节生物修复过程并促进组织再生。大分子治疗剂难以包埋以进行递送，并且实现组织修复和再生所需要的长期控制释放具有挑战性。包含天然生物聚合物和导电/活性部分的生物杂化复合材料正在作为功能材料出现，用作再生医学中的涂层，植入物或支架。在这里，我们报告基于家蚕的电响应性生物杂化复合材料的发展蚕丝蛋白和还原型氧化石墨烯被静电加载有高分子量治疗剂（即26 kDa神经生长因子-β（NGF-β））。加载NGF-β的复合膜显示在电刺激的开/关时以脉冲方式控制药物在10天内的释放。此处显示的结果为在神经组织工程应用中使用的个性化和生物响应性支架，涂层和可植入设备铺平了道路，并且还可以转化为其他电敏感组织。