A short amphipathic peptide-based injectable hydrogel with antibacterial properties

Hydrogel materials have gained considerable interest to be used as aids in the healing of chronic and traumatic wounds, in view of their tunable mechanical stability, biocompatibility and biodegradability. Here, we describe the development of a new injectable and antibacterial peptide-based hydrogel that is composed of only nine natural amino acids. By covalently merging a short antibacterial peptide sequence with a short hydrogelator peptide sequence, the biologically active sequence H-RWRWQFQFK-NH₂ was prepared, which self-assembled into a thixotropic hydrogel, a so-called 'biogel'. This biogel and a related co-formulation of the short antimicrobial peptide H-RWRW-NH₂ with the hydrogelating hexamer H-FQFQFK-NH₂ were evaluated as potential wound dressings by means of an <i>in vitro</i> wound model using <i>S. aureus, A. baumannii</i> or <i>P. aeruginosa</i>. The obtained data showed that both the biogel and the co-formulation strategy appeared to be particularly effective towards <i>A. baumannii</i> and <i>P. aeruginosa</i>.