Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 May 18.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Nanotechnol. 2015 Nov 2;11(1):95–102. doi: 10.1038/nnano.2015.238

Figure 1. Conceptual design of the peptide hydrogel and its use in light-mediated suturing of ultra-small vessels.

Figure 1

(a) Hydrogel formed directly in syringe by a triggered sol-gel phase transition is shear-thin/recovery injected into a collapsed vessel resulting in vascular distention, which greatly facilitates suturing. UV photolysis triggers the final gel-sol transition to allow blood flow. (b) Multiple phase transitions of APC1. (i) Triggered peptide folding and self-assembly leads to the formation of a fibrillar hydrogel network. (ii) Shear-thinning converts the solid-like gel to a viscous gel capable of flow. Cessation of applied shear allows gel recovery. (iii) Irradiation with UV destabilizes the fibril network and triggers the final gel-sol phase transition.