Abstract
Hydrogels are the preferred material choice for various strategies in regenerative medicine. Nevertheless, due to their high water content and soft nature, these materials are often mechanically weak, which limits their applicability. This study demonstrates mechanical reinforcement of colloidal gels at microscale using discrete polyester fibers, as confirmed by rheological, compression and nanoindentation tests. This reinforcement strategy results in injectable and moldable colloidal gels with improved mechanical performance. The fully organic gels presented here are cytocompatible and can maintain their mechanical integrity under physiological conditions. Consequently, these gels exhibit a strong potential for applications in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 143-150 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Materials Science and Engineering C |
| Volume | 92 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Nov 2018 |
Funding
This work was funded by Netherlands Enterprise Agency through Project No. SHM012014 in the theme IOP Self Healing Materials. Alessandro Polini would like to acknowledge the Radboud Excellence Initiative from Radboud University for funding. Daniela Geta Petre and Sander Leeuwenburgh would like to acknowledge the Dutch Technology Foundation NWO-STW for financial support (VIDI project No. 13455 ).
Keywords
- Colloidal gel
- Fiber reinforcement
- Injectable gel
- Moldable gel
- Regenerative medicine
- Self-healing
- NIH 3T3 Cells
- Biocompatible Materials/chemistry
- Rheology
- Fibroblasts/cytology
- Hydrogels/chemistry
- Elastic Modulus
- Regenerative Medicine
- Polyesters/chemistry
- Compressive Strength
- Animals
- Nanoparticles/chemistry
- Mice
- Gelatin/chemistry