Ferritin Nanocage Conjugated Hybrid Hydrogel for Tissue Engineering and Drug Delivery Applications

Hydrogels have recently been attractive in various drug delivery and tissue engineering applications because of their structural similarities to the natural extracellular matrix. Despite enormous advances in the application of hydrogels, poor mechanical properties and lack of control for the release of drugs and biomolecules act as major barriers for widespread clinical applications. To overcome these challenges, we developed both physically and covalently conjugated nanocage-laden hydrogels between the surface of the nanocage and a gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogel matrix. Ferritin and its empty-core equivalent apoferritin were used as nanocages that could be easily incorporated into a GelMA hydrogel via physical bonding. To fabricate covalently conjugated nanocage-laden GelMA hydrogels, ferritin and apoferritin were chemically modified to present the methacryloyl groups, ferritin methacryloyl (FerMA) and apoferritin methacryloyl (ApoMA), respectively. The covalently conjugated FerMA- and ApoMA-GelMA...