One of the most important properties of synthetic materials for biomedical applictions is that the materials should have biostability, biocompatibility and biodegadability. Polypeptides which were made of amino acid is useful to biomedical application...
One of the most important properties of synthetic materials for biomedical applictions is that the materials should have biostability, biocompatibility and biodegadability. Polypeptides which were made of amino acid is useful to biomedical application because they are structural materials of biosystem. Poly(aspartic acid) (PAsp) is synthesized by polymerization of the corresponding N-carboxyamino acid anhydride (NCA)in solution in the presence of suitable catalysts. However, the NCA method have a production problem and a cost disadvantage. Recently, a simple method that the high molecular weight PAsp was easily synthesized by the polycondensation of L-aspartic acid in the presence of acid catalyst was developed.
In this study, PAsp hydrogels have been prepared by the cross-linking reaction of PAsp produced by thermal polycondensation reactions with an acid catalyst. The molecular weight of synthesized PAsp was about 50,000(M_(W), DP = 500). And the PAsp hydrogels were formed when the the amount of cross-linker, i.e., ethylene diamine was above 10 mol%, The water absorption capacity of the PAsp hydrogel in deionized water was measured. The maximum water absorption capacity in deionized water was 1,400%. The PAsp hydrogels formed the interconnected porous stucture(pore size was about 100~200 ㎛) by scanning electron microscopy observation. The cytotoxicity test was carried out on the PAsp hydrogel using the fibroblast cells. After four days the fibroblast cells adhered and spread well on the PAsp hydrogel. Futhermore, the fibroblast cells proliferated well on the PAsp hydrogel compared with the normally cultured cells on the cell culture plate. These results are indicated that the PAsp hydrogels can be used as the scaffold for tissue engineering applications.