Chemical Tuning of Fibers Drawn from Extensible Hyaluronic Acid Networks.

ABSTRACT: Polymer fibers with specific chemical and mechanical properties are key components of many biomaterials used for regenerative medicine and drug delivery. Here, we develop a bioinspired, low-energy process to produce mechanically tunable biopolymer fibers drawn from aqueous solutions. Hyaluronic acid (HA) forms dynamic cross-links with branched polyethylene glycol polymers end-functionalized with boronic acids of varied structure to produce extensible polymer networks. This dynamic fiber precursor (DFP) is directly drawn by pultrusion into HA fibers that display high aspect ratios, ranging from 4 to 20 μm in diameter and up to ∼10 m in length. Dynamic rheology measurements of the DFP and tensile testing of the resulting fibers reveal design considerations to tune the propensity for fiber fo

SUBMITTER: Chu CK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9455704 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature