Interaction between synthetic elastin-like polypeptide and collagen: Investigation of miscibility and physicochemical properties

Poly(GVGVP), where G-Glycine, V-Valine, and P-Proline, is a synthetic elastin-like polypentapeptide that has been studied for its interaction with collagen in blends using viscometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffractogram (XRD) techniques. Additionally, the thermal characteristics such as glass transition temperature (Tg) and thermal stability of the blends were studied respectively by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The results showed that amide A and B band's positions in FTIR spectra of collagen were shifted correspondingly to higher and lower wavenumbers after blending with polypentapeptide. DSC study unveiled characteristic glass transition temperatures (Tg) for the blends and the particular components. All the blends show thermal stability in between the pure polymers. Viscosity evaluations also showed a strong association between collagen and poly(GVGVP). Collagen and poly(GVGVP) together may provide the opportunity to assemble novel, promising materials for biomedical purposes.