Influence of Hydrophobic Cross-Linkers on Carboxybetaine Copolymer Stimuli Response and Hydrogel Biological Properties

Langmuir. 2019 Feb 5;35(5):1631-1641. doi: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.8b03908. Epub 2018 Dec 31.

Abstract

Poly(carboxybetaine) (pCB) hydrogels do not elicit a foreign body response due to their low-fouling properties, making them ideal implantable materials for in vivo drug and cell delivery. Current reported pCB hydrogels are cross-linked using cytotoxic UV-initiated radical polymerization limiting clinical and in vivo translation. For clinical translation, we require in situ and biorthogonal cross-linking of pCB hydrogels that are both low-fouling and low-swelling to limit nonspecific interactions and minimize tissue damage, respectively. To this end, we synthesized carboxybetaine (CB) random copolymers (molecular weight (MW): ∼7-33 kDa; Đ: 1.1-1.36) containing azide (pCB-azide) or strained alkyne (Dibenzocyclooctyne (DBCO); pCB-DBCO) that rapidly cross-link upon mixing. Unlike CB homopolymers and other CB copolymers studied, high DBCO content pCB-DBCO30 (30% DBCO mole fraction) is thermoresponsive with a upper critical solution temperature (UCST; cloud point of ∼20 °C at 50 g/L) in water due to electrostatic associations. Due to the antipolyelectrolyte effect, pCB-DBCO30 is salt-responsive and is soluble even at low temperatures in 5 M NaCl, which prevents zwitterion electrostatic associations. pCB-azide and pCB-DBCO with 0.05 to 0.16 cross-linker mole fractions rapidly formed 10 wt % hydrogels upon mixing that were low-swelling (increase of ∼10% in wet weight) while remaining low-fouling to proteins (∼10-20 μg cm-2) and cells, making them suitable for in vivo applications. pCB-X31 hydrogels composed of pCB-azide32 and pCB-DBCO30 formed opaque gels in water and physiological conditions that shrunk to ∼70% of their original wet weight due to pCB-DBCO30's greater hydrophobicity and interchain electrostatic interactions, which promotes nonspecific protein adsorption (∼35 μg cm-2) and cell binding. Once formed, the electrostatic interactions in pCB-X31 hydrogels are not fully reversible with heat or salt. Although, pCB-X31 hydrogels are transparent when initially prepared in 5 M NaCl. This is the first demonstration of a thermo- and salt-responsive CB copolymer that can tune hydrogel protein and cell fouling properties.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Betaine / analogs & derivatives*
  • Betaine / metabolism
  • Betaine / pharmacology
  • Biofouling / prevention & control
  • Cattle
  • Cell Adhesion / drug effects
  • Elastic Modulus
  • Hydrogels / chemistry*
  • Hydrogels / metabolism
  • Hydrogels / pharmacology
  • Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions
  • Mice
  • NIH 3T3 Cells
  • Polymers / chemistry*
  • Polymers / metabolism
  • Polymers / pharmacology
  • Protein Binding
  • Serum Albumin, Bovine / metabolism
  • Static Electricity

Substances

  • Hydrogels
  • Polymers
  • Serum Albumin, Bovine
  • Betaine