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Characterization of injectable hydrogels based on poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-g-chondroitin sulfate with adhesive properties for nucleus pulposus tissue engineering

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Abstract

The goal of this work is to develop an injectable nucleus pulposus (NP) tissue engineering scaffold with the ability to form an adhesive interface with surrounding disc tissue. A family of in situ forming hydrogels based on poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-graft-chondroitin sulfate (PNIPAAm-g-CS) were evaluated for their mechanical properties, bioadhesive strength, and cytocompatibility. It was shown experimentally and computationally with the Neo-hookean hyperelastic model that increasing the crosslink density and decreasing the CS concentration increased mechanical properties at 37 °C, generating several hydrogel formulations with unconfined compressive modulus values similar to what has been reported for the native NP. The adhesive tensile strength of PNIPAAm increased significantly with CS incorporation (p < 0.05), ranging from 0.4 to 1 kPa. Live/Dead and XTT assay results indicate that the copolymer is not cytotoxic to human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells. Taken together, these data indicate the potential of PNIPAAm-g-CS to function as a scaffold for NP regeneration.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Rowan University, 201 Mullica Hill Road, Glassboro, NJ, 08028, USA

    Craig Wiltsey, Pamela Kubinski, Thomas Christiani & Jennifer Vernengo

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Rowan University, 201 Mullica Hill Road, Glassboro, NJ, 08028, USA

    Jennifer Kadlowec

  3. Department of Biological Sciences, Rowan University, 201 Mullica Hill Road, Glassboro, NJ, 08028, USA

    Katelynn Toomer, Joseph Sheehan, Amanda Branda & Cristina Iftode

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  1. Craig Wiltsey
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Correspondence to Jennifer Vernengo.

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Wiltsey, C., Kubinski, P., Christiani, T. et al. Characterization of injectable hydrogels based on poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)-g-chondroitin sulfate with adhesive properties for nucleus pulposus tissue engineering. J Mater Sci: Mater Med 24, 837–847 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10856-013-4857-x

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