In a study, researchers from IIT Gandhinagar, Gupta and team synthesized chitosan and -glycerophosphate-based hydrogels by incorporating graphene oxide (GO) and observed an enhancement in the mechanical properties with even 0.01% GO concentration.
Bullet point summary:
- Researchers synthesized hydrogels by incorporating GO and observed an enhancement in mechanical properties with even 0.01% GO concentration
- The study investigated the effect of adding KCNO and the dependence of chitosan Mw on the physical and rheological properties and biocompatibility of hydrogel scaffolds.
- Modifying the GO concentration and the Mw weight of the chitosan polymer leads to changes in the porous structure, swelling, degradation, mechanical stability, and strength.
- These properties affect the cell adhesion and viability of the RPE-1 cells seeded on the prepared scaffolds, with improved cell viability and spreading observed at higher GO concentrations and high Mw of chitosan.
The study aimed to investigate the effect of adding KCNO and incorporating GO as a nanofiller and the dependence of chitosan polymer molecular weight (Mw) on the physical and rheological properties and biocompatibility of these hydrogel scaffolds. The study found that modifying the GO concentration and the Mw weight of the chitosan polymer leads to changes in the porous structure, swelling, degradation, mechanical stability, and strength, as seen from the physical and rheological characterization of the hydrogels. These properties affect the cell adhesion and viability of the RPE-1 cells seeded on the prepared scaffolds, with improved cell viability and spreading observed at higher GO concentrations and high Mw of chitosan. The study concludes that GO-loaded-carbamoylated chitosan hydrogels exhibit improved physical and rheological properties due to a dual cross-linking mechanism with chitosan-GO electrostatic interactions and H-bonds induced by the carbamyl group, making them an attractive option for biological applications.
Graphene Oxide−Carbamoylated Chitosan Hydrogels with Tunable Mechanical Properties for Biological Applications
Gupta; Swarupa; Mayya; Bhatia; Thareja []
Full-text link: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsabm.2c00885
Outcomes:
- Researchers synthesized hydrogels by incorporating graphene oxide (GO) and observed an enhancement in mechanical properties with even 0.01% GO concentration
- The study investigated the effect of adding KCNO and incorporating GO as a nanofiller and the dependence of chitosan polymer molecular weight (Mw) on the physical and rheological properties and biocompatibility of these hydrogel scaffolds.
- The study found that modifying the GO concentration and the Mw weight of the chitosan polymer leads to changes in the porous structure, swelling, degradation, mechanical stability, and strength of the hydrogels.
- These properties affect the cell adhesion and viability of the RPE-1 cells seeded on the prepared scaffolds, with improved cell viability and spreading observed at higher GO concentrations and high Mw of chitosan.
About the Research Paper
Qin et al. synthesized CH and -glycerophosphate-based hydrogels by incorporating GO and observed an enhancement in the mechanical properties with even 0.01% GO concentration. Tangsadthakun et al. observed that low M w CH showed accelerated cell proliferation of mouse connective tissue fibroblasts than the high M w CH in CHcollagen-based scaffolds, in addition to the change in mechanical properties with the M w. Sukul et al. observed differences in human osteoblast cell attachment and spreading with change in DDA, along with variation in bone markers and cytokines with both DDA and M w in genipin-cross-linked CH sponges. In the present work, we investigate the effect of adding KCNO along with incorporating GO as a nanofiller and the dependence of CH M w on the physical and rheological properties and biocompatibility of these hydrogel scaffolds.
Research Work
Then, the trypsinized cells were seeded onto the coated and uncoated coverslips, followed by incubation at 37C in 5% CO 2 for 24 h. The cells were washed with PBS and fixed using 4% PFA at 37C for 15 min. In this study, GO-loaded-carbamoylated CH hydrogels exhibit improved physical and rheological properties due to a dual cross-linking mechanism with CH-GO electrostatic interactions and H-bonds induced by the carbamyl group. Modifying the GO concentration and the M w weight of the CH polymer leads to changes in the porous structure, swelling, degradation, mechanical stability, and strength, as seen from the physical and rheological characterization of the hydrogels. These properties affect the cell adhesion and viability of the RPE-1 cells seeded on the prepared scaffolds, with improved cell viability and spreading observed at higher GO concentrations and high M w of CH.
Q: What is the main focus of this paper?
A: The main focus of this paper is to investigate the effect of adding KCNO along with incorporating graphene oxide (GO) as a nanofiller and the dependence of chitosan polymer molecular weight (Mw) on the physical and rheological properties and biocompatibility of these hydrogel scaffolds for biological applications.
Q: What was observed in previous studies regarding chitosan and graphene oxide hydrogels?
A: In previous studies, it was observed that incorporating graphene oxide (GO) in chitosan and -glycerophosphate-based hydrogels resulted in an enhancement in the mechanical properties with even 0.01% GO concentration. It was also observed that low molecular weight chitosan showed accelerated cell proliferation of mouse connective tissue fibroblasts than the high molecular weight chitosan in chitosan collagen-based scaffolds, in addition to the change in mechanical properties with the molecular weight.
Q: What is the mechanism behind GO-loaded-carbamoylated chitosan hydrogels’ improved physical and rheological properties?
A: The improved physical and rheological properties of GO-loaded-carbamoylated chitosan hydrogels are due to a dual cross-linking mechanism with chitosan-GO electrostatic interactions and H-bonds induced by the carbamyl group.
Q: How do the concentration and molecular weight of chitosan polymer affect the properties of the hydrogels?
A: Modifying the GO concentration and the molecular weight of the chitosan polymer leads to changes in the porous structure, swelling, degradation, mechanical stability, and strength of the hydrogels. These properties affect the cell adhesion and viability of the RPE-1 cells seeded on the prepared scaffolds, with improved cell viability and spreading observed at higher GO concentrations and high molecular weight of chitosan.