TY - JOUR

T1 - Swelling and Mechanical Characterization of Polyelectrolyte Hydrogels as Potential Synthetic Cartilage Substitute Materials

AU - Romischke, Johanna

AU - Scherkus, Anton

AU - Saemann, Michael

AU - Krueger, Simone

AU - Bader, Rainer

AU - Kragl, Udo

AU - Meyer, Johanna

N1 - Funding Information: Funding: The publication of this article was funded by the Open Access Fund of Leibniz Universität Hannover. This research was funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF, Federal Ministry of Education and Research) within “Zwanzig20”, grant number: 03ZZ0933L (J.R., A.S., U.K.) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), grant number: SFB 1270/1—299150580 (M.S., S.K., R.B.).

PY - 2022/5/12

Y1 - 2022/5/12

N2 - Hydrogels have become an increasingly interesting topic in numerous fields of applica-tion. In addition to their use as immobilization matrixes in (bio)catalysis, they are widely used in the medical sector, e.g., in drug delivery systems, contact lenses, biosensors, electrodes, and tissue engineering. Cartilage tissue engineering hydrogels from natural origins, such as colla-gen, hyaluronic acid, and gelatin, are widely known for their good biocompatibility. However, they often lack stability, reproducibility, and mechanical strength. Synthetic hydrogels, on the other hand, can have the advantage of tunable swelling and mechanical properties, as well as good reproducibility and lower costs. In this study, we investigated the swelling and mechanical properties of synthetic polyelectrolyte hydrogels. The resulting characteristics such as swelling degree, stiffness, stress, as well as stress-relaxation and cyclic loading behavior, were compared to a commercially available biomaterial, the ChondroFiller® liquid, which is already used to treat articular cartilage lesions. Worth mentioning are the observed good reproducibility and high mechanical strength of the synthetic hydrogels. We managed to synthesize hydrogels with a wide range of compressive moduli from 2.5 ± 0.1 to 1708.7 ± 67.7 kPa, which addresses the span of human articular cartilage.

AB - Hydrogels have become an increasingly interesting topic in numerous fields of applica-tion. In addition to their use as immobilization matrixes in (bio)catalysis, they are widely used in the medical sector, e.g., in drug delivery systems, contact lenses, biosensors, electrodes, and tissue engineering. Cartilage tissue engineering hydrogels from natural origins, such as colla-gen, hyaluronic acid, and gelatin, are widely known for their good biocompatibility. However, they often lack stability, reproducibility, and mechanical strength. Synthetic hydrogels, on the other hand, can have the advantage of tunable swelling and mechanical properties, as well as good reproducibility and lower costs. In this study, we investigated the swelling and mechanical properties of synthetic polyelectrolyte hydrogels. The resulting characteristics such as swelling degree, stiffness, stress, as well as stress-relaxation and cyclic loading behavior, were compared to a commercially available biomaterial, the ChondroFiller® liquid, which is already used to treat articular cartilage lesions. Worth mentioning are the observed good reproducibility and high mechanical strength of the synthetic hydrogels. We managed to synthesize hydrogels with a wide range of compressive moduli from 2.5 ± 0.1 to 1708.7 ± 67.7 kPa, which addresses the span of human articular cartilage.

KW - cartilage lesion

KW - compression

KW - cyclic loading

KW - hydrogel

KW - mechanical characterization

KW - polyelectrolyte

KW - stress-relaxation

KW - substitute material

KW - swelling

KW - synthetic polymer

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85130560546&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.3390/gels8050296

DO - 10.3390/gels8050296

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85130560546

VL - 8

JO - Gels

JF - Gels

IS - 5

M1 - 296

ER -