Center of Nanotechnology, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21569, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Chemical Engineering, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States.
Biomacromolecules. 2021 Oct 11;22(10):4110-4121. doi: 10.1021/acs.biomac.1c00575. Epub 2021 Sep 13.
For several biomedical applications, it is essential to develop novel bioactive materials. Such biomaterials could potentially improve wound healing, prevent infections, or be used in immunoengineering. For example, bioactive materials that reduce oxidative stress without relying on antibiotics and other drugs could be beneficial. Hydrogel-based biomaterials, especially those derived from natural polymers, have been regarded as one of the most promising scaffolds for biomedical research. These multifunctional scaffolds can exhibit high water adsorption capacity, biocompatibility, and biomechanical properties that can match native tissues. Cryogels are a special type of hydrogels in which polymers are cross-linked around ice crystals. As a result, cryogels exhibit unique physical features, including a macroporous and interconnected network, flexibility, shape-memory properties, and syringe injectability. Herein, we developed a multifunctional, i.e., antibacterial, antioxidant, and injectable cryogel by combining lignin with gelatin. The cryogel with 0.2% lignin showed a compressive modulus of 25 kPa and a compressive stress of 140 kPa at 80% strain, which is, respectively, 1.8 and 7 times higher than those of the pure gelatin cryogels. Meanwhile, such a cryogel formulation could completely recover its shape after compression up to 90% and was needle-injectable. Additionally, the lignin--gelatin cryogel with 0.1-0.2 lignin showed 8-10 mm of inhibition zone against the most common surgical site infection-associated pathogenic bacteria. Furthermore, lignin--gelatin cryogel was found to scavenge free radicals and have good cytocompatibility, and the cryogels with up to 0.2% lignin minimally activate naïve mouse bone marrow-derived dendritic cells. Overall, the current approach shows great promise for the design of bioresource-based multifunctional cryogels for a wide range of biomedical applications.
对于许多生物医学应用来说，开发新型生物活性材料至关重要。这些生物材料有可能改善伤口愈合、预防感染或用于免疫工程。例如，减少氧化应激而不依赖抗生素和其他药物的生物活性材料可能会有益。水凝胶基生物材料，特别是那些源自天然聚合物的生物材料，被认为是生物医学研究中最有前途的支架之一。这些多功能支架具有高吸水性、生物相容性和与天然组织相匹配的生物力学性能。冷冻凝胶是一种特殊类型的水凝胶，其中聚合物围绕冰晶交联。因此，冷冻凝胶具有独特的物理特性，包括大孔和互连的网络、柔韧性、形状记忆特性和注射器可注射性。在此，我们通过将木质素与明胶结合，开发了一种多功能的、即具有抗菌、抗氧化和可注射性的冷冻凝胶。含有 0.2%木质素的冷冻凝胶在 80%应变时的压缩模量为 25 kPa，压缩应力为 140 kPa，分别是纯明胶冷冻凝胶的 1.8 倍和 7 倍。同时，这种冷冻凝胶配方在压缩至 90%时可以完全恢复其形状，并且可以用针注射。此外，含有 0.1-0.2%木质素的木质素-明胶冷冻凝胶对最常见的手术部位感染相关病原菌具有 8-10 mm 的抑制区。此外，木质素-明胶冷冻凝胶能够清除自由基，具有良好的细胞相容性，并且含有高达 0.2%木质素的冷冻凝胶最小程度地激活幼稚的小鼠骨髓来源的树突状细胞。总体而言，该方法为设计基于生物资源的多功能冷冻凝胶提供了广阔的应用前景。
