Responsive Hydrogel as a Means of Preventing Calcification in Urological Prostheses

Hydrogel prostheses made of poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate), pHEMA, have demonstrated resistance to calcification in the urinary tract as reported. Hydrogels composed of pHEMA doped with small amounts of methacrylic acid and crosslinker demonstrate large volume changes between pH 6 and pH 7. The range of this collapse-like behavior is situated well within the normal range of urinary pH, electrolyte and urea content. Calcification in the urinary tract is not well understood but resistance of z-hydroxy methacrylate gels to calcification could quite reasonably depend upon the “active” nature of the gel. Accordingly, the physicochemical behavior of gels is as important to the design of urinary biomaterials as the simple chemical structure and physical properties