Qureshi Asma Talib, Afrin Shajia, Asim Saad, Rizwan Muhammad
Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, 75235, USA.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, 49931, USA.
Adv Healthc Mater. 2025 Jun;14(15):e2405260. doi: 10.1002/adhm.202405260. Epub 2025 Apr 18.
Biomaterials with inherent anti-inflammatory properties and the ability to foster a pro-regenerative environment hold significant promise for enhancing cell transplantation and tissue regeneration. Fucoidan, a sulfated polysaccharide with well-documented immune-regulatory and antioxidant capabilities, offers strong potential for creating such biomaterials. Yet, there is a lack of engineered fucoidan hydrogels that are injectable and provide tunable physicochemical properties. In this study, the ability of fucoidan to undergo periodate-mediated oxidation is leveraged to introduce aldehydes into backbone (oxidized fucoidan, OFu), enabling the formation of reversible, imine-crosslinks with amine-containing molecules such as gelatin. The imine-crosslinked OFu-gelatin hydrogel provided excellent control over gelation rate and mechanical properties. Counter-intuitively, OFu-gelatin hydrogel exhibited excellent long-term stability (≥28 days), even though imine crosslinks are known to be relatively less stable. Moreover, the OFu-gelatin hydrogels are self-healing, injectable, and biocompatible, supporting cell culture and encapsulation. Furthermore, fucoidan hydrogels displayed immune-modulatory properties both in vitro and in vivo. This innovative injectable fucoidan hydrogel presents a versatile platform for applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
具有固有抗炎特性并能够营造促再生环境的生物材料，在增强细胞移植和组织再生方面具有巨大潜力。岩藻依聚糖是一种具有充分文献记载的免疫调节和抗氧化能力的硫酸化多糖，在制造此类生物材料方面具有强大潜力。然而，目前缺乏可注射且具有可调物理化学性质的工程化岩藻依聚糖水凝胶。在本研究中，利用岩藻依聚糖进行高碘酸盐介导氧化的能力，将醛基引入主链（氧化岩藻依聚糖，OFu），使其能够与含胺分子（如明胶）形成可逆的亚胺交联。亚胺交联的OFu-明胶水凝胶在凝胶化速率和机械性能方面具有出色的可控性。与直觉相反的是，尽管已知亚胺交联相对不太稳定，但OFu-明胶水凝胶表现出出色的长期稳定性（≥28天）。此外，OFu-明胶水凝胶具有自愈合、可注射和生物相容性，支持细胞培养和封装。此外，岩藻依聚糖水凝胶在体外和体内均表现出免疫调节特性。这种创新的可注射岩藻依聚糖水凝胶为组织工程和再生医学应用提供了一个多功能平台。
