Richbourg Nathan R, Peppas Nicholas A
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
Department of Biomedical Engineering and Departments of Surgery and Pediatrics, Dell Medical School, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712, United States; McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering and Division of Molecular Therapeutics and Drug Delivery, College of Pharmacy, University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
Macromolecules. 2021 Nov 23;54(22):10477-10486. doi: 10.1021/acs.macromol.1c01752. Epub 2021 Nov 9.
Increasingly accurate mathematical models have been developed to relate solute and hydrogel properties to solute diffusion coefficients in hydrogels, primarily by comparing solute sizes and hydrogel mesh sizes. Here, we use a standardized, high-throughput method for fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) experiments and analysis to characterize the diffusion coefficients of fluorescein, three sizes of FITC-dextran, and three sizes of FITC-conjugated poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) through 18 structurally varied poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogel formulations. Increasing the hydrogel mesh radii increased the diffusivities of all the tested solutes within the hydrogels. While the diffusivity of FITC-dextrans in hydrogels decreased with increasing solute size, the diffusivity of FITC-PEGs increased with increasing solute size, suggesting that a generalized hydrodynamic radius-based model is not universally applicable for solute diffusion in hydrogels. The high-throughput characterization method for solute diffusion in hydrogels described here facilitates precise hydrogel design for biomedical applications.
人们已经开发出越来越精确的数学模型，主要通过比较溶质大小和水凝胶网孔大小，将溶质和水凝胶特性与溶质在水凝胶中的扩散系数联系起来。在此，我们使用一种标准化的高通量光漂白后荧光恢复（FRAP）实验及分析方法，来表征荧光素、三种大小的异硫氰酸荧光素标记葡聚糖（FITC - dextran）以及三种大小的异硫氰酸荧光素共轭聚乙二醇（FITC - PEG）通过18种结构各异的聚乙烯醇（PVA）水凝胶配方时的扩散系数。增大水凝胶的网孔半径会增加所有测试溶质在水凝胶中的扩散率。虽然FITC - dextran在水凝胶中的扩散率随溶质尺寸增大而降低，但FITC - PEG的扩散率随溶质尺寸增大而增加，这表明基于广义流体动力学半径的模型并非普遍适用于溶质在水凝胶中的扩散。本文所述的用于溶质在水凝胶中扩散的高通量表征方法，有助于为生物医学应用精确设计水凝胶。
