Hyaluronic acid‐poly(vinyl alcohol) composite cryo‐gel for biofunctional material application

Abstract

Recently, applications of hyaluronic acid (HA) as a biomaterial were investigated. However, the weak structure of HA gel and the effects of using cross‐linker raised concerns during in vivo resolution. In this study, we investigated the method to solve these two problems using physical cross‐linking and compositing with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA). Various weight ratios of HA and PVA solutions were mixed, adjustment of pH to 1.8 using HCl then used to fabricate HA‐PVA cryo‐gel by freezing‐thawing. Young's modulus of the prepared gel rose with the increase of both HA and PVA concentrations or either one of them. We estimated that HA and PVA have exhibited these mechanical properties due to forming a double network. HA‐PVA gel showed kinetic friction force of approximately 10 times of PVA gel, while water contact angle and protein adsorption of HA‐PVA gels were remarkably decreased. The properties of the prepared gel suggest that it can be used for postoperative adhesion prevention applications.

Films Based on Blends of Polyvinyl Alcohol and Microbial Hyaluronic Acid

“…The lyophilized HA produced in this work could be easily incorporated into PVA solutions, resulting in homogeneous filmogenic solutions, which provided translucent films that could be easily manipulated ( Figure 1). Due to the high molecular weight (1.35 × 10 6 Da) of the HA produced in this work, the polymer is suitable for use in biomedical applications such as wound healing [32], drug delivery [33], anti-adhesive barrier [25,34] and topical ocular therapy [35].…”

“…Previous studies have used commercial HA for production of PVA-HA gels [18,22,23], cryogels membranes [16,24,25] and solutions [26]. Ding and coauthors [27] obtained a multi-layered hydrogel film system based on hyaluronic acid-cysteamine (HA-Cym) and PVA.…”

“…Ding and coauthors [27] obtained a multi-layered hydrogel film system based on hyaluronic acid-cysteamine (HA-Cym) and PVA. Kuchaiyaphum and coauthors [25] produced PVA-HA cryogel by repeated freezing and thawing method as the purpose to remove the effect of chemical cross-linkers.…”

Lubrication Effect of Polyvinyl Alcohol/Polyethylene Glycol Gel for Artificial Joints

“…Copolymerization or macromolecule reactions can be used to introduce weak forces into the main chain or side group of the molecule. is weakens the intramolecular and intermolecular forces of the PVA molecule, thereby reducing the melting point [37]. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) is widely used for lubrication purposes and is biodegradable and biocompatible [38,39].…”

Miscibility Studies of Hyaluronic Acid and Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) Blends in Various Solvents

“…Several reports examined HA blends with PVA as films [21], gels [22][23][24], cryo-gel membranes [25][26][27] and blends based on HA and poly(vinyl alcohol)-borax association (PVAs) [28]. They showed that the chemically cross-linked PVA/HA hydrogels can be attractive materials for tissue engineering [22].…”