scholarly journals Generation of Photopolymerized Microparticles Based on PEGDA Using Microfluidic Devices. Part 1. Initial Gelation Time and Mechanical Properties of the Material

Micromachines ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 293
Author(s):  
José M. Acosta-Cuevas ◽  
José González-García ◽  
Mario García-Ramírez ◽  
Víctor H. Pérez-Luna ◽  
Erick Omar Cisneros-López ◽  
...  

Photopolymerized microparticles are made of biocompatible hydrogels like Polyethylene Glycol Diacrylate (PEGDA) by using microfluidic devices are a good option for encapsulation, transport and retention of biological or toxic agents. Due to the different applications of these microparticles, it is important to investigate the formulation and the mechanical properties of the material of which they are made of. Therefore, in the present study, mechanical tests were carried out to determine the swelling, drying, soluble fraction, compression, cross-linking density (Mc) and mesh size (ξ) properties of different hydrogel formulations. Tests provided sufficient data to select the best formulation for the future generation of microparticles using microfluidic devices. The initial gelation times of the hydrogels formulations were estimated for their use in the photopolymerization process inside a microfluidic device. Obtained results showed a close relationship between the amount of PEGDA used in the hydrogel and its mechanical properties as well as its initial gelation time. Consequently, it is of considerable importance to know the mechanical properties of the hydrogels made in this research for their proper manipulation and application. On the other hand, the initial gelation time is crucial in photopolymerizable hydrogels and their use in continuous systems such as microfluidic devices.

2021 ◽  
pp. 088532822110448
Author(s):  
Xiang Zhang ◽  
Zhenhao Yan ◽  
Guotao Guan ◽  
Zijing Lu ◽  
Shujie Yan ◽  
...  

Natural cartilage tissue has excellent mechanical properties and has certain cellular components. At this stage, it is a great challenge to produce cartilage scaffolds with excellent mechanical properties, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Hydrogels are commonly used in tissue engineering because of their excellent biocompatibility; however, the mechanical properties of commonly used hydrogels are difficult to meet the requirements of making cartilage scaffolds. The mechanical properties of high concentration polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogel are similar to those of natural cartilage, but its biocompatibility is poor. Low concentration hydrogel has better biocompatibility, but its mechanical properties are poor. In this study, two different hydrogels were combined to produce cartilage scaffolds with good mechanical properties and strong biocompatibility. First, the PEGDA grid scaffold was printed with light curing 3D printing technology, and then the low concentration GelMA/Alginate hydrogel with chondral cells was filled into the PEGDA grid scaffold. After a series of cell experiments, the filling hydrogel with the best biocompatibility was screened out, and finally the filled hydrogel with cells and excellent biocompatibility was obtained. Cartilage tissue engineering scaffolds with certain mechanical properties were found to have a tendency of cartilage formation in in vitro culture. Compared with the scaffold obtained by using a single hydrogel, this molding method can produce a tissue engineering scaffold with excellent mechanical properties on the premise of ensuring biocompatibility, which has a certain potential application value in the field of cartilage tissue engineering.


Author(s):  
Ozlem Yasar ◽  
Serkan Inceoglu ◽  
Ramesh Prashad

In recent years, tissue engineering has been utilized as an alternative approach for the organ transplantation. The success rate of tissue regeneration is influenced by the type of biomaterials, cell sources, growth factors and scaffold fabrication techniques used. The poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) is one of commonly used biomaterials because of its biocompatibility, ease of use, and porous microstructure. The mechanical properties of PEGDA have been studied to some extent by several research groups. However, the stability of the mechanical properties with time has not been investigated. In this research, we studied how the mechanical properties of different concentrations of PEGDA change with the post-fabrication ageing time. Cylindrical PEGDA samples were prepared 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%, and 100% concentrations and cured under the UV light. After the solidification process, weight of each sample was monitored in every 0, 2, 4, 6, and 24 hours post-fabrication ageing time until the mechanical testing. Compressive elastic modulus and strength were calculated and statistically analyzed. Our results indicated that the water content of each PEGDA group constantly decreased by time, however, this loss significantly affected the elastic modulus and strength only after 6 hours in some PEGDA concentration.


Author(s):  
Kristopher A. White ◽  
Rabab Chalaby ◽  
Ronke Olabisi

Abstract Purpose Polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) is increasingly used to microencapsulate cells via a vortex-induced water-in-oil emulsion process. Herein, we evaluated methods to encapsulate cells into microparticles using microfluidic methods. Methods PEGDA prepolymer solution with or without cells was photopolymerized with white light under varying microfluidic parameters to form empty microspheres or cell-laden microparticles. Microparticles and entrapped cells were assessed for size and viability. Results PEGDA microparticles were easily formed when cells were absent; the introduction of cells resulted in aggregation that clogged microfluidic devices, resulting in a mix of empty polymer microparticles and cells that were not encapsulated. Cells that were successfully encapsulated had poor viability. Conclusion Microfluidic methods may work for low density microencapsulation of mammalian cells; however, when the cell density within each microparticle must be relatively high, emulsion-based methods are superior to microfluidic methods. Lay Summary The synthetic polymer polyethylene glycol diacrylate (PEGDA) has been increasingly used to encapsulate cells into micrometer-sized hydrogel spheres (microspheres). One method to microencapsulate cells has been to form a water-in-oil emulsion with liquid polymer containing cells and then expose the suspended droplets to white light, polymerizing them into PEGDA hydrogel microspheres. Although successful, this method has poor control over the process, resulting in polydisperse microsphere sizes with varying cell density. We evaluated microfluidic methods to form both empty and cell-laden PEGDA microspheres. Although microfluidic methods resulted in monodisperse microsphere sizes, the introduction of cells resulted in clogging of microfluidic devices, non-spherical microparticles, and poor cell viability. Future Work Because the microfluidic approach successfully formed cell-free microspheres, the effect of reducing cell aggregation will be examined. Specifically, the use of anti-aggregation agents as well as a reduced cell density in the liquid polymer phase and their effects on polymer formation will be explored.


Author(s):  
Ozlem Yasar ◽  
Serkan Inceoglu

In the field of tissue engineering, scaffold is the foundation structure that provides the desired mechanical support for the tissue being engineered, surface for cells to attach and spread, and access for nutrient transport crucial for cell viability. The scaffolds are 3D building blocks which are designed and fabricated precisely prior to its implantation to the host tissue. When scaffolds with desired shape and size are fabricated, they can be seeded with cells and appropriate growth factors. After cells show healthy growth within the scaffold, they are implanted into the body with the scaffold to allow full-scale tissue regeneration. In this research, photolithography is adapted as a fabrication method to generate PEGDA-based structures. In this method, ultra-violet (UV) light is reflected on PEGDA and as a result of the interaction between UV light and precursor solution, PEGDA turns into solid form. Despite the potential of PEGDA in scaffold applications, the mechanical properties have not been studied in a great extent. Therefore, in this project, the mechanical characterization of PEGDA was conducted for various polymer concentrations. Specimens with 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% PEGDA to water ratio were prepared for compression tests. Our preliminary experimental data results show that, mechanical properties of PEGDA can be controlled by changing the PEGDA to water ratio. Stronger and stiffer structures can be obtained with high PEGDA concentrations while softer structures can be fabricated with reduced PEGDA concentrations.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 110
Author(s):  
Assiss. Prof. Dr. Sabiha Mahdi Mahdi ◽  
Dr. Firas Abd K. Abd K.

Aim: The aimed study was to evaluate the influence of silver nitrate on surfacehardness and tensile strength of acrylic resins.Materials and methods: A total of 60 specimens were made from heat polymerizingresins. Two mechanical tests were utilized (surface hardness and tensile strength)and 4 experimental groups according to the concentration of silver nitrate used.The specimens without the use of silver nitrate were considered as control. Fortensile strength, all specimens were subjected to force till fracture. For surfacehardness, the specimens were tested via a durometer hardness tester. Allspecimens data were analyzed via ANOVA and Tukey tests.Results: The addition of silver nitrate to acrylic resins reduced significantly thetensile strength. Statistically, highly significant differences were found among allgroups (P≤0.001). Also, the difference between control and experimental groupswas highly significant (P≤0.001). For surface hardness, the silver nitrate improvedthe surface hardness of acrylics. Highly significant differences were statisticallyobserved between control and 900 ppm group (P≤0.001); and among all groups(P≤0.001)with exception that no significant differences between control and150ppm; and between 150ppm and 900ppm groups(P>0.05).Conclusion: The addition of silver nitrate to acrylics reduced significantly the tensilestrength and improved slightly the surface hardness.


Author(s):  
Georgel MIHU ◽  
Claudia Veronica UNGUREANU ◽  
Vasile BRIA ◽  
Marina BUNEA ◽  
Rodica CHIHAI PEȚU ◽  
...  

Epoxy resins have been presenting a lot of scientific and technical interests and organic modified epoxy resins have recently receiving a great deal of attention. For obtaining the composite materials with good mechanical proprieties, a large variety of organic modification agents were used. For this study gluten and gelatin had been used as modifying agents thinking that their dispersion inside the polymer could increase the polymer biocompatibility. Equal amounts of the proteins were milled together and the obtained compound was used to form 1 to 5% weight ratios organic agents modified epoxy materials. To highlight the effect of these proteins in epoxy matrix mechanical tests as three-point bending and compression were performed.


Biomolecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1456
Author(s):  
Isabel Matos Oliveira ◽  
Cristiana Gonçalves ◽  
Myeong Eun Shin ◽  
Sumi Lee ◽  
Rui Luis Reis ◽  
...  

Rheumatoid arthritis is a rheumatic disease for which a healing treatment does not presently exist. Silk fibroin has been extensively studied for use in drug delivery systems due to its uniqueness, versatility and strong clinical track record in medicine. However, in general, natural polymeric materials are not mechanically stable enough, and have high rates of biodegradation. Thus, synthetic materials such as gellan gum can be used to produce composite structures with biological signals to promote tissue-specific interactions while providing the desired mechanical properties. In this work, we aimed to produce hydrogels of tyramine-modified gellan gum with silk fibroin (Ty–GG/SF) via horseradish peroxidase (HRP), with encapsulated betamethasone, to improve the biocompatibility and mechanical properties, and further increase therapeutic efficacy to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The Ty–GG/SF hydrogels presented a β-sheet secondary structure, with gelation time around 2–5 min, good resistance to enzymatic degradation, a suitable injectability profile, viscoelastic capacity with a significant solid component and a betamethasone-controlled release profile over time. In vitro studies showed that Ty–GG/SF hydrogels did not produce a deleterious effect on cellular metabolic activity, morphology or proliferation. Furthermore, Ty–GG/SF hydrogels with encapsulated betamethasone revealed greater therapeutic efficacy than the drug applied alone. Therefore, this strategy can provide an improvement in therapeutic efficacy when compared to the traditional use of drugs for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 845
Author(s):  
Xin Yang ◽  
Bronwin Dargaville ◽  
Dietmar Hutmacher

The interaction of water within synthetic and natural hydrogel systems is of fundamental importance in biomaterial science. A systematic study is presented on the swelling behavior and states of water for a polyethylene glycol-diacrylate (PEGDA)-based model neutral hydrogel system that goes beyond previous studies reported in the literature. Hydrogels with different network structures are crosslinked and swollen in different combinations of water and phosphate-buffered saline (PBS). Network variables, polyethylene glycol (PEG) molecular weight (MW), and weight fraction are positively correlated with swelling ratio, while “non-freezable bound water” content decreases with PEG MW. The presence of ions has the greatest influence on equilibrium water and “freezable” and “non-freezable” water, with all hydrogel formulations showing a decreased swelling ratio and increased bound water as ionic strength increases. Similarly, the number of “non-freezable bound water” molecules, calculated from DSC data, is greatest—up to six molecules per PEG repeat unit—for gels swollen in PBS. Fundamentally, the balance of osmotic pressure and non-covalent bonding is a major factor within the molecular structure of the hydrogel system. The proposed model explains the dynamic interaction of water within hydrogels in an osmotic environment. This study will point toward a better understanding of the molecular nature of the water interface in hydrogels.


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