Mohammad Vahedi
Iran Polymer and Petrochemical Institute, Iran
Title: Reversible gelatin hydrogels based on semi-covalent
Biography
Biography: Mohammad Vahedi
Abstract
Background: Hydrogels synthesized using semi-covalent interactions, exhibit shear thinning property as a major feature that makes them ideal for a variety of applications.
Aim: The aim of this study was to synthesis a novel gelatin hydrogel employing semi-covalent interactions. To this end, telechelic polyethylene glycol was functionalized with aldehyde end groups and used as a biocompatible crosslinking agent for gelatin to form a three-dimensional (3D) hydrogel network.
Methods: Bi-functionalized polyethylene glycol was synthesized by esterification reaction between hydroxyl-terminated-PEG and 4-formylbenzoic acid. FTIR analysis was used for verification of the product. The hydrogel fabrication was carried out by simply mixing of gelatin and the bi-functionalized PEG, both in aqueous solutions. Results: Synthesis of the bi-functionalized PEG was proven by FTIR spectroscopy by appearance of various peaks at ν (cm-1) = 3490, 2882, 1976, 1717, 1466, 1345, 1280, 1104, 961, 842. Hydrogel preparation was performed by mixing the solutions containing the gel making components (namely gelatin and the PEG dialdehyde). It was observed that the hydrogel formation was took place in less than 60 seconds.
Conclusions: In this study, a gelatin-based hydrogel was prepared by induction of semi-covalent interactions between gelatin and a bi-functionalized PEG dialdehyde. The resulted hydrogels showed shear-thinning properties that are useful for applications as injectable and/or printable materials for bio-applications. The obtained hydrogel can be used as drug delivery system, cell culture scaffolds and other applications where materials with shear thinning are required.