School of Materials Science and Engineering, 12636Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
J Biomater Appl. 2021 Nov;36(5):902-911. doi: 10.1177/08853282211018567. Epub 2021 May 29.
Natural polymer material-based hydrogels normally show inferior mechanical stability and strength to bear large deformation and cyclic loading, therefore their applications in food, biomedical and tissue engineering fields are greatly limited. In this study, gelatin-based hydrogels with remarkable stability, as well as tunable mechanical properties, were prepared via a facile method known as the Hofmeister effect. The higher concentration of potassium sulfatesolution resulted in more dehydration and molecular chain folding, thus the treated hydrogels showed significantly improved tensile and compressive modulus, and decreased equilibrium swelling ratio, as revealed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infraredspectroscopy (FTIR), and mechanical tests, etc. Additionally, the reinforced hydrogels were recoverable and biocompatible to modulate the proliferation behavior of human umbilical vein endothelial cells. In conclusion, this paper provides a facile reference for tuning mechanical properties of gelatin-based hydrogels and cell-hydrogel interactions, which show potential capacity in tissue engineering and biomedical fields.
基于天然高分子材料的水凝胶通常表现出较差的机械稳定性和强度，难以承受大变形和循环加载，因此其在食品、生物医学和组织工程领域的应用受到了极大的限制。在这项研究中，通过一种称为Hofmeister 效应的简单方法制备了具有显著稳定性和可调机械性能的明胶基水凝胶。较高浓度的硫酸钾溶液导致更多的脱水和分子链折叠，因此处理后的水凝胶表现出显著提高的拉伸和压缩模量，以及降低的平衡溶胀比，这通过扫描电子显微镜（SEM）、傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）和力学测试等手段得到了证实。此外，增强型水凝胶具有可恢复性和生物相容性，可以调节人脐静脉内皮细胞的增殖行为。总之，本文为调节明胶基水凝胶的机械性能和细胞-水凝胶相互作用提供了一种简便的参考，在组织工程和生物医学领域具有潜在的应用价值。
