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PEG-Based Hydrogel Coatings: Design Tools for Biomedical Applications

  • S.I. : Bioengineering and Enabling Technologies II
  • Published:
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Abstract

Device failure due to undesired biological responses remains a substantial roadblock in the development and translation of new devices into clinical care. Polyethylene glycol (PEG)-based hydrogel coatings can be used to confer antifouling properties to medical devices—enabling minimization of biological responses such as bacterial infection, thrombosis, and foreign body reactions. Application of hydrogel coatings to diverse substrates requires careful consideration of multiple material factors. Herein, we report a systematic investigation of two coating methods: (1) traditional photoinitiated hydrogel coatings; (2) diffusion-mediated, redox-initiated hydrogel coatings. The effects of method, substrate, and compositional variables on the resulting hydrogel coating thickness are presented. To expand the redox-based method to include high molecular weight macromers, a mechanistic investigation of the role of cure rate and macromer viscosity was necessary to balance solution infiltration and gelation. Overall, these structure–property relationships provide users with a toolbox for hydrogel coating design for a broad range of medical devices.

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Acknowledgments

The work presented here was supported by the National Institutes of Health R21 EB020978. The Bionate® Thermoplastic Polycarbonate-urethane was provided by DSM Biomedical (Berkeley, CA).

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There are no conflicts to declare.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Megan Wancura

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Abbey Nkansah, Andrew Robinson, Shireen Toubbeh, Michael Talanker, Sarah Jones & Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez

  3. Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, 107 W. Dean Keeton, BME Building, Room 3.503D, Austin, TX, 78712, USA

    Elizabeth Cosgriff-Hernandez

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  1. Megan Wancura
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Wancura, M., Nkansah, A., Robinson, A. et al. PEG-Based Hydrogel Coatings: Design Tools for Biomedical Applications. Ann Biomed Eng (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-023-03154-9

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