Chemically Modified Gellan Gum Hydrogels with Tunable Properties for Use as Tissue Engineering Scaffolds.

ABSTRACT: Gellan gum is a naturally occurring polymer that can cross-link in the presence of divalent cations to form biocompatible hydrogels. However, physically cross-linked gellan gum hydrogels lose their stability under physiological conditions, thus restricting the applications of these hydrogels in vivo. To improve the mechanical strength of the gels, we incorporated methacrylate into the gellan gum and chemically cross-linked the hydrogel through three polymerization methods: step growth through thiol-ene photoclick chemistry, chain-growth via photopolymerization, and mixed model in which both mechanisms were employed. Methacrylation was confirmed and quantified by proton nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The mechanical properties and

SUBMITTER: Xu Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6044625 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature