Chen Yangjun, Diaz-Dussan Diana, Wu Di, Wang Wenda, Peng Yi-Yang, Asha Anika Benozir, Hall Dennis G, Ishihara Kazuhiko, Narain Ravin
Department of Materials Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
ACS Macro Lett. 2018 Aug 21;7(8):904-908. doi: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.8b00434. Epub 2018 Jul 12.
Boronic ester, one typical example of dynamic covalent bonds, has presented great potential to prepare self-healing hydrogels. However, most of currently reported hydrogels based on boronic esters are formed at pH > 8, which impeded their further use in physiological conditions. In this study, we designed two kinds of zwitterionic copolymers with benzoxaborole and catechol pendant groups, respectively. Owing to the lower p value of benzoxaborole (7.2), gelation can happen easily at pH 7.4 PBS after mixing these two copolymers due to efficient formation of benzoxaborole-catechol complexations. The resulting hydrogels exhibited excellent self-healing property as well as dual pH/sugar responsiveness due to the dynamic nature of boronic ester. Moreover, benefiting from the cell membrane bioinspired 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC)-based polymeric matrix, the hydrogel was further investigated for 3D cell encapsulation. The combination of biocompatible zwitterionic polymers with dynamic benzoxaborole-catechol complexation makes the hydrogels a promising platform for diverse potential bioapplications like drug delivery and tissue engineering.
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