School of Mechanical, Electronic and Control Engineering, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing100044, China.
Langmuir. 2023 Feb 14;39(6):2368-2379. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.2c03109. Epub 2023 Feb 1.
Hydrogels, which can withstand large deformations and have stable chemical properties, are considered a potential material for cartilage repair. However, hydrogels still face some challenges regarding their mechanical properties, tribological behavior, and biocompatibility. Thus, we synthesized a hybrid hydrogel by means of chemical cross-linking and transesterification using glycerol ethoxylate (GE) and zwitterionic polysulfobetaine methacrylate (PSBMA) as raw materials. The hybrid hydrogel showed excellent compressive stress at approximately 3.50 MPa and low loss factors (0.023-0.049). Moreover, because GE has good water binding properties, helping to form a stable hydration layer and maintain low energy dissipation, a low friction coefficient (μ ≈ 0.028) was obtained with the "soft-soft contact mode" of a hydrogel hemisphere and hydrogel disc under reciprocating motion. In vitro cytotoxicity, skin sensitization, and irritation reaction tests were carried out to show good biocompatibility of the GE-PSBMA hybrid hydrogel. In this study, a hybrid hydrogel with no potential cytotoxicity, strong compressive capacity, and excellent lubricity was obtained to provide a potential alternative for developing polymer hybrids, as well as demonstrating an idea for the application of hybrid hydrogels in cartilage replacement.
水凝胶具有较大的变形能力和稳定的化学性能，被认为是一种有潜力的软骨修复材料。然而，水凝胶在机械性能、摩擦学行为和生物相容性方面仍面临一些挑战。因此，我们采用化学交联和酯交换的方法，以甘油聚氧乙烯醚（GE）和两性离子聚磺酸甜水基甲基丙烯酰胺（PSBMA）为原料，合成了一种杂化水凝胶。该杂化水凝胶的压缩应力约为 3.50 MPa，损耗因子较低（0.023-0.049）。此外，由于 GE 具有良好的水结合性能，有助于形成稳定的水合层并保持低能量耗散，因此在往复运动下，水凝胶半球和水凝胶盘的“软-软接触模式”获得了较低的摩擦系数（μ≈0.028）。体外细胞毒性、皮肤致敏和刺激反应试验表明，GE-PSBMA 杂化水凝胶具有良好的生物相容性。在这项研究中，我们获得了一种具有潜在无细胞毒性、高强度压缩能力和优异润滑性的杂化水凝胶，为开发聚合物杂化材料提供了一种潜在的选择，并为杂化水凝胶在软骨替代中的应用提供了一种思路。
