Synthesis and degradation test of hyaluronic acid hydrogels

Hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogels prepared with three different crosslinking reagents were assessed by in vitro and in vivo degradation tests for various tissue engineering applications. Adipic acid dihydrazide grafted HA (HA-ADH) was synthesized and used for the preparation of methacrylated HA (HA-MA) with methacrylic anhydride and thiolated HA (HA-SH) with Traut's reagent (imminothiolane). H-1 NMR analysis showed that the degrees of HA-ADH, HA-MA, and HA-SH modification were 69, 29, and 56 mol%, respectively. HA-ADH hydrogel was prepared by the crosslinking with bis(sulfosuccinimidyl) suberate (BS3), HA-MA hydrogel with dithiothreitol (DTT) by Michael addition, and HA-SH hydrogel with sodium tetrathionate by disulfide bond formation. According to in vitro degradation tests, HA-SH hydrogel was degraded very fast, compared to HA-ADH and HA-MA hydrogels. HA-ADH hydrogel was degraded slightly faster than HA-MA hydrogel. Based on these results, HA-MA hydrogels and HA-SH hydrogels were implanted in the back of SD rats and their degradation was assessed according to the pre-determined time schedule. As expected from the in vitro degradation test results, HA-SH hydrogel was in vivo degraded completely only in 2 weeks, whereas HA-MA hydrogels were degraded only partially even in 29 days. The degradation rate of HA hydrogels were thought to be controlled by changing the crosslinking reagents and the functional group of HA derivatives. In addition, the state of HA hydrogel was another factor in controlling the degradation rate. Dried HA hydrogel at 37 degrees C for a day resulted in relatively slow degradation compared to the bulk HA hydrogel. There was no adverse effect during the in vivo tests. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.X1156sciescopu

Selectively crosslinked hyaluronic acid hydrogels for sustained release formulation of erythropoietin

A novel sustained release formulation of erythropoietin (EPO) was developed using hyaluronic acid (HA) hydrogels. For the preparation of HA hydrogels, adipic acid dihydrazide grafted HA (HA-ADH) was synthesized and analyzed with H-1 NMR. The degree of HA-ADH modification was about 69%. EPO was in situ encapsulated into HA-ADH hydrogels through a selective cross-linking reaction of bis(sulfosuccinimidyl) suberate (BS3) to hydrazide group (pK(a) = 3.0) of HA-ADH rather than to amine group (pK(a) > 9) of EPO. The denaturation of EPO during HA-ADH hydrogel synthesis was drastically reduced with decreasing pH from 7.4 to 4.8. The specific reactivity of BS3 to hydrazide at pH = 4.8 might be due to its low pKa compared with that of amine. In vitro release of EPO in phosphate buffered saline at 37 degrees C showed that EPO was released rapidly for 2 days and then slowly up to 4 days from HA-ADH hydrogels. When the hydrogels were dried at 37 degrees C for a day, however, longer release of EPO up to 3 weeks could be demonstrated. According to in vivo release test of EPO from HA-ADH hydrogels in SD rats, elevated EPO concentration higher than 0.1 ng/mL could be maintained from 7 days up to 18 days depending on the preparation methods of HAADH hydrogels. There was no adverse effect during and after HA-ADH hydrogel implantation. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.X11303sciescopu