Aliyar Hyder A, Hamilton Paul D, Ravi Nathan
Department of Surgery, Veteran Affairs Medical Center, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA.
Biomacromolecules. 2005 Jan-Feb;6(1):204-11. doi: 10.1021/bm049574c.
Polymer solutions can fill any potential irregular cavity using minimally invasive techniques and thus have potential uses in ophthalmology. We prepared acrylamide hydrogels containing disulfide bonds by free radical polymerization in aqueous ethanol. The hydrogels were liquefied using dithiothreitol to yield water-soluble acrylamide copolymers containing pendant thiol (-SH) groups. The weight average molecular weights of the copolymers ranged from 1.43 x 10(5) to 9.22 x 10(5) daltons by GPC. Ellman's analysis and Raman spectroscopy confirmed the presence of -SH. The aqueous solutions of these purified thiol-containing copolymers were oxidized with 3,3'-dithiodipropionic acid or air to reform the hydrogels. The moduli of the reformed hydrogels ranged from 0.27 to 1.1 kPa depending on concentration and thiol content. Rapid endocapsular gelation yielded optically clear gel within the lens capsular bag. This technique now enables us to validate methods to determine the biomechanics of the lens and its role in accommodation.
聚合物溶液可以使用微创技术填充任何潜在的不规则腔隙，因此在眼科领域具有潜在用途。我们通过在乙醇水溶液中进行自由基聚合制备了含有二硫键的丙烯酰胺水凝胶。使用二硫苏糖醇使水凝胶液化，得到含有侧链硫醇（-SH）基团的水溶性丙烯酰胺共聚物。通过凝胶渗透色谱法（GPC）测定，共聚物的重均分子量范围为1.43×10⁵至9.22×10⁵道尔顿。埃尔曼分析和拉曼光谱证实了-SH的存在。这些纯化的含硫醇共聚物的水溶液用3,3'-二硫代二丙酸或空气氧化以重新形成水凝胶。根据浓度和硫醇含量，重新形成的水凝胶的模量范围为0.27至1.1kPa。快速的囊内凝胶化在晶状体囊袋内产生了光学透明的凝胶。这项技术现在使我们能够验证确定晶状体生物力学及其在调节中的作用的方法。
