Hydrogel formation by short D-peptide for cell-culture scaffolds

The present study reports that a short oligopeptide D-P1, consisting of only five D-amino acids, self-assembled into entangled nanofibers to form a hydrogel that functioned as a scaffold for cell cultures. D-P1 (Ac-D-Phe-D-Phe-D-Phe-Gly-D-Lys) gelated aqueous buffer solution and water at a minimum gelation concentration of 0.5 wt%. The circular dichroism (CD) measurements demonstrated the formation of a β-sheet structure in the self-assembly of D-P1. We investigated the gelation properties and CD spectra of both the D- and L-forms of the oligopeptide, and found only a minimal difference between them. The D-P1 hydrogel was resistant to a protease, whereas the L-P1 hydrogel was rapidly degraded. Both oligopeptides exhibited nontoxic properties to human cancer cells and embryoid bodies (EBs) derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells. Additionally, we succeeded in forming spheroids of HeLa cells on the D-P1 hydrogel, which indicates the potential of this hydrogel for 3-dimensional cell culture.