Olăreț Elena, Bălănucă Brîndușa, Onaș Andra Mihaela, Ghițman Jana, Iovu Horia, Stancu Izabela-Cristina, Serafim Andrada
Advanced Polymer Materials Group, University Politehnica of Bucharest, 1-7 Ghe. Polizu Street, 011061 Bucharest, Romania.
Department of Organic Chemistry Costin Nenitescu, University Politehnica of Bucharest, 1-7 Ghe. Polizu Street, 011061 Bucharest, Romania.
Polymers (Basel). 2021 May 23;13(11):1706. doi: 10.3390/polym13111706.
Mucin is a glycoprotein with proven potential in the biomaterials field, but its use is still underexploited for such applications. The present work aims to produce a synthesis of methacryloyl mucin single-network (SN) hydrogels and their double-cross-linked-network (DCN) counterparts. Following the synthesis of the mucin methacryloyl derivative, various SN hydrogels are prepared through the photopolymerization of methacrylate bonds, using reaction media with different pH values. The SN hydrogels are converted into DCN systems via supplementary cross-linking in tannic acid aqueous solution. The chemical modification of mucin is described, and the obtained product is characterized; the structural modification of mucin is assessed through FTIR spectroscopy, and the circular dichroism and the isoelectric point of methacryloyl mucin is evaluated. The affinity for aqueous media of both SN and DCN hydrogels is estimated, and the mechanical properties of the systems are assessed, both at macroscale through uniaxial compression and rheology tests and also at microscale through nanoindentation tests.
粘蛋白是一种在生物材料领域已被证明具有潜力的糖蛋白，但其在这类应用中的使用仍未得到充分开发。本工作旨在合成甲基丙烯酰化粘蛋白单网络（SN）水凝胶及其双交联网络（DCN）对应物。在合成甲基丙烯酰化粘蛋白衍生物之后，通过甲基丙烯酸酯键的光聚合反应，使用不同pH值的反应介质制备各种SN水凝胶。通过在单宁酸水溶液中进行补充交联，将SN水凝胶转化为DCN体系。描述了粘蛋白的化学修饰，并对所得产物进行了表征；通过傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）评估粘蛋白的结构修饰，并评估甲基丙烯酰化粘蛋白的圆二色性和等电点。估计了SN和DCN水凝胶对水性介质的亲和力，并通过单轴压缩和流变学测试在宏观尺度以及通过纳米压痕测试在微观尺度评估了体系的力学性能。
