Injectable bottlebrush hydrogels with tissue-mimetic mechanical properties.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 35061528.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.abm2469 and PMC identifier 8782458.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Injectable hydrogels are desired in many biomedical applications due to their minimally invasive deployment to the body and their ability to introduce drugs. However, current injectables suffer from mechanical mismatch with tissue, fragility, water expulsion, and high viscosity. To address these issues, we design brush-like macromolecules that concurrently provide softness, firmness, strength, fluidity, and swellability. The synthesized linear-bottlebrush-linear (LBL) copolymers facilitate improved injectability as the compact conformation of bottlebrush blocks results in low solution viscosity, while the thermoresponsive linear blocks permit prompt gelation at 37°C. The resulting hydrogels mimic the deformation response of supersoft tissues such as adipose and brain while withstanding deformations of 700% and precluding water expulsion upon gelation. Given their low cytotoxicity and mild inflammation in vivo, the developed materials will have vital implications for reconstructive surgery, tissue engineering, and drug delivery applications.