Toward Highly Matching the Dura Mater: A Polyurethane Integrating Biocompatible, Leak‐Proof, and Self‐Healing Properties

Abstract

The dura mater is the final barrier against cerebrospinal fluid leakage and plays a crucial role in protecting and supporting the brain and spinal cord. Head trauma, tumor resection and other traumas damage it, requiring artificial dura mater for repair. However, surgical tears are often unavoidable. To address these issues, the ideal artificial dura mater should have biocompatibility, anti‐leakage, and self‐healing properties. Herein, this work has used biocompatible polycaprolactone diol as the soft segment and introduced dynamic disulfide bonds into the hard segment, achieving a multifunctional polyurethane (LSPU‐2), which integrated the above mentioned properties required in surgery. In particular, LSPU‐2 matches the mechanical properties of the dura mater and the biocompatibility tests with neuronal cells demonstrate extremely low cytotoxicity and do not cause any negative skin lesions. In addition, the anti‐leakage properties of the LSPU‐2 are confirmed by the water permeability tester and the 900 mm H2O static pressure test with artificial cerebrospinal fluid. Due to the disulfide bond exchange and molecular chain mobility, LSPU‐2 could be completely self‐healed within 115 min at human body temperature. Thus, LSPU‐2 comprises one of the most promising potential artificial dura materials, which is essential for the advancement of artificial dura mater and brain surgery.

Oxime-Urethane-Based Self-Healing Polyurethane for Achieving Complex Structures via 3D Printing

“…The entangled soft segments form the soft phase, while the connected hard segments create the hard phase. The hard phase contributes to the strength and toughness, while the soft phase imparts its flexibility, with both collaborating to provide resilience . By variation of the ratio of soft to hard segments, the mechanical properties of the LNPUs can be tuned.…”

“…The hard phase contributes to the strength and toughness, while the soft phase imparts its flexibility, with both collaborating to provide resilience. 36 By variation of the ratio of soft to hard segments, the mechanical properties of the LNPUs can be tuned. As demonstrated in Figure 2a, as the content of hard segments decreases, the tensile stress of polyurethane gradually decreases while the strain increases.…”