Performance improvement of injectable poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate-based hydrogels with finely dispersed hydroxyapatite.

Injectable hydrogels are attractive materials for biomedical application. In this work, a chemical mixing technique was developed to promote the dispersion of hydroxyapatite (HA) in injectable poly(ethylene glycol) dimethacrylate (PEGDMA)-based hydrogels. Nano-sized HA particles were distributed homogenously within the organic network, whereby HA crystals were formed in the presence of PEGDMA macromers. In addition, hydrogels were also prepared by physical mixing of dry HA particles with PEGDMA, as a comparison. Transmission electron microscopy was used to evaluate the morphology and crystal structure of HA formed in the PEGDMA aqueous solution before polymerization. According to Fourier transform infrared spectra and x-ray diffraction results, hydrogels prepared by different methods have similar components and crystal structures. Scanning electron microscopy was used to observe the hydrogels' morphology, which showed that HA in hydrogels made by chemical mixing was well dispersed and nano sized. Mechanical evaluation indicated that the mean value of the compressive strength and modulus of hydrogels prepared by physical mixing were 0.137 MPa and 0.518 MPa, respectively, while those of hydrogels prepared by chemical mixing were 0.290 MPa and 0.696 MPa, respectively. Furthermore, temperature measurement showed that the mean value of the maximum temperature in the crosslinking process of hydrogels made by chemical mixing was 38.0 degrees C, which was significantly lower than that of for hydrogels made by physical mixing (38.6 degrees C). The results indicated that the performance of composite hydrogels could be promoted by chemical mixing of the inorganic network into a polymer network.