Nitric oxide-generating self-assembling peptide hydrogel coating for enhancing hemocompatibility of blood-contacting devices

Thrombosis is the major stumbling block to the clinical application of blood-contacting devices. Herein, a quick and easy surface engineering strategy of hydrogel coating with the therapeutic gas nitric oxide (NO) generation was reported to realize up-regulation of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) and improve hemocompatibility for diverse metal materials. We first introduce the active centre selenocysteine of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) to the self-assembling peptide (RADA)4, obtaining a functionalized hydrogel. Then the hydrogel is directly coated on the 316L stainless steel (SS) for catalytically generating NO from endogenous s-nitrosothiols (RSNO). The generated NO endows the coated surface with regulation of platelet behavior and reduction of plasmatic coagulation activation and complement system activation, hence improving antithrombotic ability in vitro and ex vivo. Overall, our NO-generating hydrogel coating surface engineering strategy provides a novel solution to remove the obstacle about thrombosis of blood-contacting devices in clinic.