Figure 6.

(A) MDP-based fibers are engineered with a hydrophobic cavity to host and deliver hydrophobic drugs. Adapted with permission from “Kumar VA, Shi S, Wang BK, et al, Drug-Triggered and Cross-Linked Self-Assembling Nanofibrous Hydrogels. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 2015; 137:4823–30 10.1021/jacs.5b01549.” Copyright 2016 American Chemical Society. (B) Use of an aromatic tryptophan unit within a peptide gelator for the docking of hydrophobic drugs like fluorouracil and ciprofloxacin. The release profiles display a modest faster release rate of fluorouracil under acidic conditions. Adapted with permission from “Roy K, Pandit G, Chetia M, et al, Peptide Hydrogels as Platforms for Sustained Release of Antimicrobial and Antitumor Drugs and Proteins. ACS Applied Bio Materials. 2020; 3:6251–62 10.1021/acsabm.0c00314” Copyright (2020) American Chemical Society. (C) Encapsulation of dexamethasone within cyclodextrin affords CM-β-CD/Dex inclusion complexes that are subsequently bound with chitosan to form nanoparticles that are further encapsulated into a RADA-based peptide gel. At the end of 8 days, the release of CM-β-CD/Dex inclusion complex is slower at pH 6.0 (25–31%) relative to its release at pH 7.4 (74–95%). The control group, CM-β-CD/Dex in the absence of chitosan shows a 95% cumulative release at both acidic and neutral pHs. (error bars not included for clarity). Adapted with permission from “Lu L, Unsworth LD, pH-Triggered Release of Hydrophobic Molecules from Self-Assembling Hybrid Nanoscaffolds. Biomacromolecules. 2016; 17:1425–36 10.1021/acs.biomac.6b00040.” Copyright (2016) American Chemical Society.