School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, North University of China, Taiyuan 030051, China.
National Engineering Research Center for Biomaterials, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610064, China.
Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Sep 1;23(17):9962. doi: 10.3390/ijms23179962.
Natural polymer hydrogels have good mechanical properties and biocompatibility. This study designed hydroxyapatite-enhanced photo-oxidized double-crosslinked hydrogels. Hyaluronic acid (HA) and gelatin (Gel) were modified with methacrylate anhydride. The catechin group was further introduced into the HA chain inspired by the adhesion chemistry of marine mussels. Hence, the double-crosslinked hydrogel (HG) was formed by the photo-crosslinking of double bonds and the oxidative-crosslinking of catechins. Moreover, hydroxyapatite was introduced into HG to form hydroxyapatite-enhanced hydrogels (HGH). The results indicate that, with an increase in crosslinking network density, the stiffness of hydrogels became higher; these hydrogels have more of a compact pore structure, their anti-degradation property is improved, and swelling property is reduced. The introduction of hydroxyapatite greatly improved the mechanical properties of hydrogels, but there is no change in the stability and crosslinking network structure of hydrogels. These inorganic phase-enhanced hydrogels were expected to be applied to tissue engineering scaffolds.
天然聚合物水凝胶具有良好的机械性能和生物相容性。本研究设计了增强型光氧化双重交联水凝胶。通过甲基丙烯酰酐对透明质酸（HA）和明胶（Gel）进行修饰，受海洋贻贝粘附化学的启发，进一步在 HA 链上引入儿茶素基团，从而通过双键的光交联和儿茶素的氧化交联形成双交联水凝胶（HG）。此外，将羟基磷灰石引入 HG 中形成羟基磷灰石增强水凝胶（HGH）。结果表明，随着交联网络密度的增加，水凝胶的硬度增加；这些水凝胶具有更致密的孔结构，抗降解性能提高，溶胀性能降低。羟基磷灰石的引入极大地提高了水凝胶的机械性能，但水凝胶的稳定性和交联网络结构没有变化。这些无机相增强水凝胶有望应用于组织工程支架。
