Facile fabrication and characteristics of enzymatically crosslinked injectable tyramine-substituted eggwhite hydrogels

Protein-based materials have always been preferred because they can be engineered into a wide range of biomaterials with multiple excellent properties, including low immunogenicity, tunable mechanical properties and promotion of cell adhesion and proliferation. Spectacularly, eggwhite protein (EW) has drawn particular attention in the biomaterial field due to its high bioactivity, low production costs and easy handling. In this study, EW was firstly modified with tyramine (TA) and then enzymatically crosslinked to form injectable EW-TA hydrogels through horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The prepared EW-TA hydrogels demonstrated adjustable mechanical properties and degradation behavior. When co-cultured with NIH-3 T3 cells, the EW-TA hydrogels exhibited excellent biocompatibility. Based on the above results, the fabricated EW hydrogel, which has excellent performance, has appealing potential for biomedical applications.