Journal
BIOMATERIALS
Volume 42, Issue -, Pages 1-10Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2014.11.015
Keywords
MRI; Contrast agents; Biomaterial scaffold; PEG hydrogel; Biodegradation; Implant biocompatibility
Funding
- Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF)-Technion-NUS Grant for Regenerative Medicine Initiative in Cardiac Restoration Therapy
- Lorry I. Lokey Interdisciplinary Center for Life Sciences and Engineering
- Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute
- EC-IP FP7 [262948-2]
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We report on the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based non-invasive monitoring to document the role of protein adjuvants in hydrogel implant integration in vivo. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) hydrogels were formed with different protein constituents, including albumin, fibrinogen and gelatin. The hydrogels were designed to exhibit similar material properties, including modulus, swelling and hydrolytic degradation kinetics. The in vivo resorption properties of these PEG-based hydrogels, which contained a tethered gadolinium contrast agent, were characterized by MRI and histology, and compared to their in vitro characteristics. MRI data revealed that PEG-Albumin implants remained completely intact throughout the experiments, PEG-Fibrinogen implants lost about 10% of their volume and PEG-Gelatin implants underwent prominent swelling and returned to their initial volume by day 25. Fully synthetic PEG-diacrylate (PEG DA) control hydrogels lost about half of their volume after 25 days in vivo. Transverse MRI cross-sections of the implants revealed distinct mechanisms of the hydrogel's biodegradation: PEG-Fibrinogen and PEG-Albumin underwent surface erosion, whereas PEG-Gelatin and PEG-DA hydrogels mainly underwent bulk degradation. Histological findings substantiated the MRI data and demonstrated significant cellular response towards PEG-DA and PEG-Gelatin scaffolds with relatively low reaction towards PEG-Fibrinogen and PEG-Albumin hydrogels. These findings demonstrate that PEG-protein hydrogels can degrade via a different mechanism than PEG-hydrogels, and that this difference can be linked to a reduced foreign body response. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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