Comparison of the effectiveness of four different crosslinking agents with hyaluronic acid hydrogel films for tissue-culture applications

M. N. Collins, C. Birkinshaw

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The effectiveness of four different reagents, glutaraldehyde (GTA), 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide (EDC), poly(ethyelene glycol) diglycidyl ether (EX 810), and divinyl sulfone (DVS) as crosslinkers for cast hyaluronic acid (HA) films has been evaluated. Films were prepared by casting from solution and exposed to solutions of the crosslinkers in acetone-water solution. Swelling in water and in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) was then used to assess the effectiveness of the crosslinkers. GTA-crosslinked films were found to be of low stability compared with those treated with EDC, EX 810, and DVS. Results suggest that instability in GTA-crosslinked materials arises in part from residual acid catalyst. The effects of polymer molecular weight are not uniform. With GTA-crosslinked film produced from higher molecular weight HA swells more, and this is attributed to reduced diffusion of the crosslinker, but with EDC, the opposite effect is observed, implying some additional molecular weight dependent mechanism. Differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis results suggest that there are no significant structural difference between the gels for each crosslinker system and only the crosslink density and moisture content alters the transitions.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3183-3191
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Applied Polymer Science
Volume104
Issue number5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Jun 2007

Keywords

  • Biological applications of polymers
  • Biomaterials
  • Hydrogel
  • Mechanical properties

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