Low molecular weight hydrogels derived from urea based-bolaamphiphiles as new injectable biomaterials

Publication date: November 2017
Source:Biomaterials, Volume 145
Author(s): Michael A. Ramin, Laurent Latxague, Kotagudda Ranganath Sindhu, Olivier Chassande, Philippe Barthélémy
There is a critical need for soft materials in the field of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. However, designing injectable hydrogel scaffolds encompassing both adequate mechanical and biological properties remains a key challenge for in vivo applications. Here we use a bottom-up approach for synthesizing supramolecular gels to generate novel biomaterial candidates. We evaluated the low molecular weight gels candidates in vivo and identified one urea-containing molecule, compound 16, that avoid foreign body reactions in mice. The self-assembly of bolaamphiphiles creates a unique hydrogel supramolecular structures featuring fast gelation kinetics, high elastic moduli, thixotropic, and thermal reversibility properties. This soft material, which inhibits recognition by macrophages and fibrous deposition, exhibits long-term stability after in vivo injection.



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