| Autor: |
Bucciarelli A; Laboratorio RAMSES, IRCCS Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli, Via di Barbiano 1/10, 40136 Bologna, Italy. alessio.bucciarelli@ior.it., Selicato N; CNR NANOTEC - Institute of Nanotechnology, National Council of Research, University Campus Ecotekne, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy. nora.selicato@nanotec.cnr.it., Coricciati C; CNR NANOTEC - Institute of Nanotechnology, National Council of Research, University Campus Ecotekne, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy. nora.selicato@nanotec.cnr.it.; Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica E. de Giorgi, Università Del Salento, Campus Ecotekne, via Monteroni, 73100, Lecce, Italy. giuseppe.gigli@unisalento.it., Rainer A; CNR NANOTEC - Institute of Nanotechnology, National Council of Research, University Campus Ecotekne, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy. nora.selicato@nanotec.cnr.it.; Department of Engineering, Università Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, via Alvaro del Portillo, 21, 00128, Rome, Italy. a.rainer@unicampus.it., Capodilupo AL; CNR NANOTEC - Institute of Nanotechnology, National Council of Research, University Campus Ecotekne, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy. nora.selicato@nanotec.cnr.it., Gigli G; CNR NANOTEC - Institute of Nanotechnology, National Council of Research, University Campus Ecotekne, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy. nora.selicato@nanotec.cnr.it.; Dipartimento di Matematica e Fisica E. de Giorgi, Università Del Salento, Campus Ecotekne, via Monteroni, 73100, Lecce, Italy. giuseppe.gigli@unisalento.it., Moroni L; MERLN Institute for Technology-Inspired Regenerative Medicine, Complex Tissue Regeneration Department, Maastricht University, Universiteitssingel 40, 6229ER Maastricht, the Netherlands. l.moroni@maastrichtuniversity.nl., Polini A; CNR NANOTEC - Institute of Nanotechnology, National Council of Research, University Campus Ecotekne, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy. nora.selicato@nanotec.cnr.it., Gervaso F; CNR NANOTEC - Institute of Nanotechnology, National Council of Research, University Campus Ecotekne, Via Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy. nora.selicato@nanotec.cnr.it. |
| Abstrakt: |
Hydrogels of biopolymers are gradually substituting synthetic hydrogels in tissue engineering applications due to their properties. However, biopolymeric hydrogels are difficult to standardize because of the intrinsic variability of the material and the reversibility of physical crosslinking processes. In this work, we synthesized a photocrosslinkable derivative of chitosan (Cs), namely methacrylated chitosan (CsMA), in which the added methacrylic groups allow the formation of hydrogels through radical polymerization triggered by UV exposure. We then performed a systematic study to link the physical properties of the materials to its preparation parameters to standardize its preparation according to specific applications. We studied the properties of CsMA solutions and the derived hydrogels using a statistical method, namely, response surface method, which allowed us to build empirical models describing material properties in terms of several selected processing factors. In particular, we studied the viscosity of CsMA solutions as a function of CsMA concentration, temperature, and shear rate, while hydrogel compression modulus, morphology, degradation and solubilization were investigated as a function of CsMA concentration, photoinitiator concentration and UV exposure. CsMA solutions resulted in shear thinning and were thus suitable for extrusion-based 3D printing. The CsMA hydrogel was found to be highly tunable, with a stiffness in the 12-64 kPa range, and was stable over a long timeframe (up to 60 days). Finally, the possibility to engineer hydrogel stiffness through an empirical model allowed us to hypothesize a number of possible applications based on the mechanical properties of several biological tissues reported in the literature. |
