The Role of Aldehyde-Functionalized Crosslinkers on the Property of Chitosan Hydrogels
Journal
Macromolecular Bioscience
Date Issued
2022
Author(s)
Abstract
Chitosan has been utilized as a popular biopolymer to fabricate hydrogels for biomedical applications. However, chitosan hydrogels are generally too brittle to mimic the deformability of the extracellular matrix in many tissues and organs. In particular, the role of the varied crosslinkers in determining the elasticity of chitosan hydrogels is lack of discussion. Here, three aldehyde-functionalized crosslinkers (i.e., aldehyde-modified poly(xylitol sebacate)-co-poly(ethylene glycol) (APP), glutaraldehyde (GA), and polydextran aldehyde (PDA)) are used to react with quaternized chitosan (QCS) through imine bonds to form hydrogels. The microstructures, mechanical performances, and cytocompatibility of the three hydrogels are systematically investigated. The APP/QCS hydrogels presented the best compressive and stretch properties among the three hydrogels. The mechanical property and antibacterial activity of APP/QCS hydrogels can be further modulated using varied QCS amounts, where more QCS contributed higher stiffness and stretchability as well as better bacterial inhibition to the APP/QCS hydrogels. Taken together, it is demonstrated that the inherent elastomeric characteristic of APP crosslinker provides the desirable elasticity and stretchability to QCS hydrogels compared to the other aldehyde-functionalized crosslinkers of GA and PDA. This strategy of using multivalent elastomeric crosslinkers to fabricate deformable chitosan hydrogels can expand the use of chitosan hydrogels in tissue engineering applications. ? 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH
Subjects
antibacterial property
chitosan
elasticity
hydrogels
stretchability
Aldehydes
Biomechanics
Biopolymers
Chitosan
Deformation
Hydrogels
Medical applications
Polyethylene glycols
Stiffness
Tissue engineering
Antibacterial properties
Biomedical applications
Chitosan hydrogel
Crosslinker
Functionalized
Glutaraldehydes
Property
Quaternized chitosans
Stretchability
Elasticity
SDGs
Type
journal article