Stealey Samuel, Dharmesh Ether, Bhagat Maitreyi, Tyagi Abdul Malik, Schab Andrew, Hong Melissa, Osbourn Damon, Abu-Amer Yousef, Jelliss Paul A, Zustiak Silviya Petrova
Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Science and Engineering, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO USA.
Department of Chemistry, School of Science and Engineering, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis, MO USA.
NPJ Biomed Innov. 2025;2(1):11. doi: 10.1038/s44385-025-00011-3. Epub 2025 Mar 24.
Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is characterized by cartilage degeneration and significant reduction in lubrication. One strategy to recover the natural lubrication of the synovial fluid is the injection of hydrogel microspheres. Here, we have fabricated polyethylene glycol (PEG)-based hydrogel microspheres via a modified electrospraying setup. To improve throughout, crosslinking of PEG droplets was delayed until after droplet formation was complete. A custom-synthesized super-lubricious copolymer consisting of adhesive dopamine methacrylate (DMA), zwitterionic sulfobetaine methacrylate (SBMA), and fluorescent rhodamine B was used to dip-coat the PEG microspheres. Super-lubricious PEG microspheres coating reduced coefficient of friction by 57% compared to simulated synovial fluid, indicating beneficial lubrication properties. When injected into C57BL6 mice, PEG microspheres exhibited stability for up to 26 d and did not adversely affect mouse behavior. These super-lubricious PEG microspheres offer great promise to reduce the friction that is a hallmark of progressive OA, potentially mitigating the need for total knee arthroplasty.
膝关节骨关节炎（OA）的特征是软骨退变和润滑作用显著降低。恢复滑液自然润滑作用的一种策略是注射水凝胶微球。在此，我们通过改进的电喷雾装置制备了基于聚乙二醇（PEG）的水凝胶微球。为了提高产量，PEG液滴的交联被延迟到液滴形成完成之后。一种由粘性多巴胺甲基丙烯酸酯（DMA）、两性离子磺基甜菜碱甲基丙烯酸酯（SBMA）和荧光罗丹明B组成的定制合成超润滑共聚物被用于浸涂PEG微球。与模拟滑液相比，超润滑PEG微球涂层使摩擦系数降低了57%，表明其具有有益的润滑性能。当注射到C57BL6小鼠体内时，PEG微球在长达26天的时间内表现出稳定性，并且对小鼠行为没有不利影响。这些超润滑PEG微球有望减少作为进行性OA标志的摩擦，潜在地减少全膝关节置换术的需求。
