Adhesive Hydrogel Building Blocks to Reconstruct Complex Cartilage Tissues.

ABSTRACT: Cartilage has an intrinsically low healing capacity, thereby requiring surgical intervention. However, limitations of biological grafting and existing synthetic replacements have prompted the need to produce cartilage-mimetic substitutes. Cartilage tissues perform critical functions that include load bearing and weight distribution, as well as articulation. These are characterized by a range of high moduli (≥1 MPa) as well as high hydration (60-80%). Additionally, cartilage tissues display spatial heterogeneity, resulting in regional differences in stiffness that are paramount to biomechanical performance. Thus, cartilage substitutes would ideally recapitulate both local and regional properties. Toward this goal, triple network (TN) hydrogels were prepared with cartilage-like hydration and

SUBMITTER: Demott CJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10848198 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature