Hyaluronic acid (HA) is a naturally occurring polymer that holds considerable promise for tissue engineering applications. Current cross-linking chemistries often require a coupling agent, catalyst, or photoinitiator, which may be cytotoxic, or involve a multistep synthesis of functionalized-HA, increasing the complexity of the system. With the goal of designing a simpler one-step , aqueous-based cross-linking system, we synthesized HA hydrogels via Diels-Alder “click” chemistry. Furan-modified HA derivates were synthesized and cross-linked via dimaleimide poly(ethylene glycol). By controlling the furan to maleimide molar ratio, both the mechanical and degradation properties of the resulting Diels-Alder cross-linked hydrogels can be tuned. Rheological and degradation studies demonstrate that the Diels-Alder click reaction is a suitable cross-linking method for HA. These HA cross-linked hydrogels were shown to be cytocompatible and may represent a promising material for soft tissue engineering.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/31369 |
| Date | 15 December 2011 |
| Creators | Nimmo, Chelsea Marlene |
| Contributors | Shoichet, Molly |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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