In this study, aof biodegradable block copolymer hydrogels having a delayed swelling property were prepared and evaluated for application as a tissue expander.The hydrogels were synthesized via radical crosslinking reaction of poly(ethylene glycol) (P...
In this study, aof biodegradable block copolymer hydrogels having a delayed swelling property were prepared and evaluated for application as a tissue expander.The hydrogels were synthesized via radical crosslinking reaction of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) diacrylate as a hydrophilic macromonomer and poly(d,l-lactide-co-glycolide)-poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(d,l-lactide-co-glycolide)(PLGA-PEG-PLGA) triblock copolymer diacrylate as a swelling/degradation controller (SDC), respectively. For the synthesis of various SDCs that can lead to different degradation and swelling properties, various PLGA-PEG-PLGA triblock copolymers with different LA/GA ratios and different PLGA block lengths were synthesized and wereto have terminal acrylate groups. The resultant hydrogels were flexible and elastic, and thus can beeasily cut with a knife or scissors even in the dry state. This allows easy reshaping of these materials at the time of implantation. The in-vitro degradation tests showed that the delayed swelling properties of the hydrogels could be modulated by varying the chemical composition of the biodegradable crosslinker and thetime before swelling rangedone week to five weeks. The hydrogels could be useful for biomedical applications such as tissue expansion due to their biocompatibility, elasticity, sufficient swelling pressure, delayed swelling and controllable degradation time.