Acrylic-Based Hydrogels as Advanced Biomaterials

Abstract

Acrylate based hydrogels are one of the most promising soft biocompatible material platforms that significantly contribute to the delivery of therapeutics, contact lenses, corneal prosthesis, bone cements and wound dressing, and are being explored widely for potential applications in the field of regenerative medicine. A significant number of these materials, which possess excellent water sorption properties, have been supported by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States for different applications. Nonetheless, many of their physical and biological properties required for certain biomedical and bioengineering applications are often poor when they are in the hydrated state at the body temperature: tensile/compression performance, water diffusion, antimicrobial activity, antifouling capacity, biological response, porosity for the fabrication of supports or scaffolds for tissue engineering, electrical and/or thermal properties, among other properties. Consequently, new acrylic-based hydrogels have been designed as multicomponent systems such as interpenetrated polymer networks, composites and nanocomposite materials, which have exhibited superior properties able to substantially enhance potential uses of these materials in the biomedical and bioengineering industry.

Superswelling Microneedle Arrays for Dermal Interstitial Fluid (Prote)Omics

“…The impact of acrylic acid neutralization percentage, crosslinker and photoinitiator contents, as well as crosslinking time, on the mechanical strength (Figure S1, Supporting Information) and swelling kinetics (Figure S2, Supporting Information) of generated hydrogel was evaluated to identify the best performing formulation for a swelling MN application. [ 38 ] Increasing the crosslinking time and the crosslinker content led to a hydrogel with stronger mechanical properties to the detriment of its swelling capacity, with the optimized H0 containing poly(acrylic acid) neutralized at 85% with potassium hydroxide, 0.30 wt% of the crosslinker MBAA, 0.45 wt% of the photoinitiator irgacure 2959 (IC2959), cured under UV‐light for 10 min. In ultrapure water at 21 °C, H0 displays a swelling capacity of around 100 g g −1 .…”

Emergence of Polymeric Material Utilising Sustainable Radiation Curable Palm Oil-Based Products for Advanced Technology Applications

“…Meanwhile, acrylic-based polymers, such as polyacrylic acid (PAA), are well known for their excellent biocompatibility and efficiency in mechanical properties. This has benefitted their usage for various significant biomedical applications, such as contact lenses, corneal prosthesis, bone cement, tissue engineering, nanofibres, nanocomposites, and nanoparticles [ 81 ]. Modification of polyacrylic acid using irradiation is especially useful for improving the properties of scaffolds based on acrylic.…”

“…Modification of polyacrylic acid using irradiation is especially useful for improving the properties of scaffolds based on acrylic. Radiation techniques have been reported as reliable methods for acrylic-based hydrogel synthesis for manufacturing of engineered tissue scaffolds [ 81 ]. For example, a cross-linked PAA hydrogel synthesised by cross-linking ionising radiation has been developed by Jabari et al [ 82 ] and Rosiak et al [ 27 ] for therapeutic dressing.…”

Acrylate Polymers for Advanced Applications

“…The polymer exhibited different swelling ratio at different pH with Fickian diffusion characteristics, while mechanical properties could be controlled by varying cross-linking density and grafting. Photo-cross-linked hydrogels have also been used for the controlled release of various hydrophobic and hydrophilic drugs, including hydrogels based on methacrylate-terminated PEG [159] and PEG-poly(ε-caprolactone) multiblock copolymers [160]. Another family of hydrogels that is being explored for possible applications is thiol-acrylate hydrogels that were tailored to vary degradation rates and enhance cell viability particularly for cranial defects [161,162].…”