Shear thinning/self-healing hydrogel based on natural polymers with secondary photocrosslinking for biomedical applications.

Injectable hydrogel systems are useful in many biomedical applications, including drug or cell delivery carriers and scaffolds. Here, we describe the design and characterization of a shear thinning hydrogel that undergoes a disassembly when shear forces are applied during injection and is self-healing once the shear forces are removed. This hydrogel is based on a cyclodextrin modified alginate, and a methacrylated gelatin which initially forms through a weak guest-host interaction between hydrophobic cyclodextrin cavities and the aromatic residue of gelatin. Methacrylated gelatin possesses photocrosslinkable functionalities which can go through a light-initiated polymerization to create secondary crosslinking sites and further crosslink the matrix. The shear thinning and self-healing behavior of these gels monitored in low and high strain range, viscosity of the hydrogels components and gelation kinetic were studied. The rheological analyses showed the formation of shear thinning gels which were further stabilized by visible light exposure. The cytotoxicity of the hydrogels towards human mesenchymal stem cells were assessed and the rate of mass loss over a week period was studied.