自组装聚合物为神经修复开辟新途径

Physical structure dictates the processes that underlie life. At the molecular scale, geometrically matching shapes allow a protein’s binding pocket and a specific ligand to fit together, triggering important biochemical events. At the cellular scale, cylinder-like axons enable rapid transport of materials and electrical signals inside a neuron (1). An ongoing goal in biomaterials science has been synthetically creating biomolecules that can interface with cells and support specialized cell structures, such as the long, thin shapes of neurons. On page 125 of this issue, Dore et al. (2) report a family of peptide amphiphiles with discrete hydrophilic and lipophilic regions that assemble into fibrils with dimensions comparable to those of a cell (10 to 100 μm). …