Fast‐Gelling Polyethylene Glycol/Polyethyleneimine Hydrogels Degradable by Visible‐Light

• Published in: Macromolecular bioscience Vol. 24; no. 2; pp. e2300289 - n/a
• Main Authors: Paula, Carlos T.B., Leandro, Ana, Pereira, Patrícia, Coelho, Jorge F.J., Fonseca, Ana C., Serra, Arménio C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01-02-2024
• Subjects: Amino groups; amino‐yne; Biocompatibility; Degradation products; Gelation; Hydrogels; Irradiation; light‐degradable; Mechanical properties; Molecular weight; on‐demand dissolution; Photodegradation; Polyethylene glycol; Polyethyleneimine; ROS‐responsive; Tissues; wound healing; Wounds; wound healing; ROS-responsive; amino-yne; light-degradable; on-demand dissolution
• ISSN: 1616-5187; 1616-5195
• DOI: 10.1002/mabi.202300289

The treatment of burn wounds remains a clinical challenge due to the need for repeated dressings changes. Therefore, the development of a dressing system that can be atraumatically removed from the wound bed can be considered a breakthrough and improve treatment times. In this work, the development of an injectable, fast‐gelling hydrogel is proposed that can change its mechanical properties when exposed to visible light. The hydrogels are prepared by a “click” amino‐yne reaction between poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) functionalized with propiolic acid and the amino groups of poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI). The hydrogels exhibit a fast gelation time, which can be adjusted by changing the weight percentage and molecular weight of the precursors. They also exhibit good swelling ability and adhesion to living tissues. More importantly, their mechanical properties changed upon irradiation with green light. This loss of properties is achieved by a 1O2‐mediated mechanism, as confirmed by the degradation of the β‐aminoacrylate linker. Moreover, the in vitro cell compatibility results of the hydrogels and their degradation products show good cytocompatibility. Therefore, it is believed that these hydrogels can be considered as materials with great potential for an innovative strategy for the treatment of burn wounds.
This work presents a strategy to prepare injectable, fast‐gelling hydrogels that can change their mechanical properties upon exposure to light. The in situ forming hydrogels are obtained by a “click” amino‐yne reaction between poly(ethylene glycol)‐diaalkynoate(PEG2k‐DA) and poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI) leading to the formation of gels within seconds. These cytocompatible hydrogels have a controllable degradation by a 1O2‐mediated mechanism.