Fabrication and Characterization of a Multilayer Hydrogel as a Candidate for Artificial Cartilage

Abstract

Bone and cartilage are highly organized tissues with gradient layered, which makes cartilage have good lubrication and bearing capacity. Inspired by the gradient structure of natural articular cartilage, the PVA–HA and PVA–HA–PAA composite hydrogels were selected to prepare a hierarchical bionic cartilage material by physical bonding. The lower PVA–HA composite hydrogel and the upper PVA–HA–PAA composite hydrogel provide excellent lubrication and loading-bearing ability to bionic cartilage materials, respectively. Furthermore, the cartilage–bone material was constructed by grafting the multilayer bionic cartilage hydrogel onto the UHMWPE after oxidation esterification to simulate the bone–cartilage hierarchical structure. The multilayer cartilage material has excellent tensile fracture properties (tensile strength 38.90 ± 1.5 MPa, 545 ± 32%, tensile modulus 1.73 ± 0.06 MPa), compression properties (compressive strength 3.1 ± 0.15 MPa, compressive modulus 4.47 ± 0.2 MPa), thermostability, friction properties (friction coefficient 0.035 ± 0.0028), and biocompatibility. Thus, the bionic cartilage material has a gradient-layered structure with high strength and low friction, which significantly improves the stability and life of artificial joints.

Multicompartment Hydrogels

“…In a similar way, Zhang and co‐workers formed cartilage‐inspired multilayer hydrogels from poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), HA, and PAA. [ 257 ] An anisotropic multilayer system based on cellulose was presented by Jeon and co‐workers. [ 258 ] Therefore, anisotropic cellulose gels were formed by alignment of cellulose chains in organic solvent swollen cellulose gel films under shear stress.…”

Two-Dimensional and Three-Dimensional Ultrathin Multilayer Hydrogels through Layer-by-Layer Assembly

“…Using ultrathin hydrogels nanostructured through controlled layering and chain interdiffusion can significantly improve the overall response time to less than seconds, overcoming one of the main barriers to rapidly responsive systems, diffusion . Ultrathin multilayer hydrogels increase solvent diffusion drastically through highly stratified layering and alternating free volumes. ,, The ultrathin multilayer hydrogels have the largest swelling factor between swollen and collapsed states in response to a very narrow pH transition. , In contrast to bulk hydrogels, the layered nanothin structure allows for the integration of functional molecules at a certain depth, and these structures are not limited to a substrate shape, morphology, or size. ,, These features are essential for developing rapid-response sensors and multifunctional materials with unconventional response triggers for biomedicine. ,,, …”

“…38,97,111 These features are essential for developing rapid-response sensors and multifunctional materials with unconventional response triggers for biomedicine. 73,81,112,113 The potential applications of stimuli-responsive hydrogels that can vary their volume in response to guest molecules have attracted interest because of their potential as sensing systems. 114−117 The ability to detect amino acids using hydrogels is particularly intriguing because amino acids are essential building blocks for peptides, neurotransmitters, and proteins in biological organisms.…”

Zwitterionic Poly(carboxybetaine) Brush/Albumin Conjugate Films: Structure and Lubricity

“…3 Numerous artificial composite materials that mimic the hierarchical structure of the cartilages have been proposed. 4,5 As a macromolecular system that mimics the articular cartilages, polymer brushes with hydrophilic polymer chains have been investigated, and the excellent lubricating performance has been demonstrated in a huge number of reports in the past. 6−16 In particular, charged polymer chains including polyelectrolytes and zwitterionic polymers exhibit outstanding lubrication performance in wet conditions.…”

“…The liquid infusion and confinement in the proteoglycan layer at the sliding interface are considered an important aspect of the induction of fluid lubrication . Numerous artificial composite materials that mimic the hierarchical structure of the cartilages have been proposed. , As a macromolecular system that mimics the articular cartilages, polymer brushes with hydrophilic polymer chains have been investigated, and the excellent lubricating performance has been demonstrated in a huge number of reports in the past. − In particular, charged polymer chains including polyelectrolytes and zwitterionic polymers exhibit outstanding lubrication performance in wet conditions. The electrostatic long-range repulsive forces and/or strong hydration are attributed to the enormous lubrication.…”