Tannic acid-assisted mechanical training transforms natural hydrogels into robust and bioactive membranes for guided bone regeneration.

ABSTRACT: Guided bone regeneration (GBR) membranes are widely used for the treatment of bone defects. Natural hydrogels are promising candidates for GBR membranes owing to their excellent bioactivity and controllable degradability, but their clinical translation is restricted by inherent mechanical weakness. Inspired by tendon-strengthening mechanisms in athletes, we propose a tannic acid (TA)-assisted wet-stretching (TAWS) strategy to transform gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogels into mechanically robust GBR membranes. During stretching, GelMA chains are directionally aligned while TA establishes multivalent hydrogen bonds between adjacent fibers, synergistically reinforcing the network. The resulting TA-trained (GHT) membranes achieved a 22.16-fold increase in Young's modulus and a 12.31-fold e

SUBMITTER: Sun J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12905784 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature