Toward the Development of Partially Biodegradable and Injectable Thermoresponsive Hydrogels for Potential Biomedical Applications

A series of hydrogels containing a biodegradable dextran (Dex) chain grafted with a hydrophobic poly(is an element of caprolactone) -2 hydroxylethyl methacrylate (PCL-HEMA) chain and a thermoresponsive poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) chain were synthesized. The molecular weight of PCK-HEMA was determined by gel permeation chromatography, and the inner morphology of the hydrogel was observed by scanning electron microscopy. The release profiles from the hydrogels were investigated using bovine serum albumen as a model drug. It was found that the release behavior could be adjusted by varying the composition of the hydrogen in vivo degradation and histological studies demonstrated that the hydrogels had good biocompatibility and were promising for use as an injectable polymeric scaffold for tissue engineering application.