Journal article

Epoxy-amine synthesised hydrogel scaffolds for soft-tissue engineering

ZAA Hamid, A Blencowe, B Ozcelik, JA Palmer, GW Stevens, KM Abberton, WA Morrison, AJ Penington, GG Qiao

Biomaterials | Published : 2010

Abstract

Highly porous and biodegradable hydrogels based on poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and cystamine (Cys) were fabricated using epoxy-amine chemistry and investigated as scaffolds for soft-tissue engineering. Whereas the application of fused-salt templates provided a comprehensive interconnecting pore morphology, the incorporation of a specially designed poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) cross-linker provided enhanced mechanical function without adversely effecting the scaffolds positive biological interactions. The addition of only 1.2 wt% of the PCL cross-linker was sufficient to provide improvements in the ultimate stress of 30-40%. In vitro studies not only confirmed the non-cytotoxic nature of the sc..

View full abstract

Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council


Funding Acknowledgements

The MALDI ToF MS used in these studies was supported under Australian Research Council's Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) funding scheme (LE0882576). ZAAH acknowledges the SLAB Fellowship (The Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia) and School of Materials and Mineral Resources Engineering, University Science Malaysia. The authors (ZAAH, AB, BO and GGQ) thank Melbourne Ventures Pty Ltd, University of Melbourne for funding (Growing Innovation Fund (GIF)), Dr Andrea O'Connor (Particulate Fluids Processing Centre (PFPC), The University of Melbourne) for use of facilities and Sabina Zahirovic (Melbourne Ventures Pty Ltd) for helpful discussion.