The particle in the spider's web: transport through biological hydrogels

• Main Authors: Witten, Jacob (Author), Ribbeck, Katharina (Contributor), Witten, Jacob Julian Seid (Contributor)
• Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Computational and Systems Biology Program (Contributor), Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Biological Engineering (Contributor)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), 2018-09-11T15:38:44Z.
• Subjects: Article
• Online Access: Get fulltext

 Biological hydrogels such as mucus, extracellular matrix, biofilms, and the nuclear pore have diverse functions and compositions, but all act as selectively permeable barriers to the diffusion of particles. Each barrier has a crosslinked polymeric mesh that blocks penetration of large particles such as pathogens, nanotherapeutics, or macromolecules. These polymeric meshes also employ interactive filtering, in which affinity between solutes and the gel matrix controls permeability. Interactive filtering affects the transport of particles of all sizes including peptides, antibiotics, and nanoparticles and in many cases this filtering can be described in terms of the effects of charge and hydrophobicity. The concepts described in this review can guide strategies to exploit or overcome gel barriers, particularly for applications in diagnostics, pharmacology, biomaterials, and drug delivery.