Abstract
A sequential peptide having hydrophilic and hydrophobic amino acid residues, RADA16 (CH3CO-(Arg-Ala-Asp-Ala)4-NH2), forms a hydrogel in aqueous medium. The formation of the network structure would be based on hierarchical self-assembly; 1) formation of β-sheet structure, 2) construction of amphiphilic fibrous object, and 3) crosslinking between side chain by electrostatic interaction. The synthetic polymers such as polyelectrolyte and hydrophilic polymer mixed into the hydrogel medium gave influence to the physical property of the peptide hydrogel.
