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Composite Three‐Dimensional Woven Scaffolds with Interpenetrating Network Hydrogels to Create Functional Synthetic Articular Cartilage
Author(s) -
Liao IChien,
Moutos Franklin T.,
Estes Bradley T.,
Zhao Xuanhe,
Guilak Farshid
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.201300483
Subject(s) - materials science , scaffold , composite material , self healing hydrogels , composite number , biomaterial , cartilage , viscoelasticity , tribology , biomedical engineering , nanotechnology , polymer chemistry , medicine , anatomy
The development of synthetic biomaterials that possess mechanical properties mimicking those of native tissues remains an important challenge to the field of materials. In particular, articular cartilage is a complex nonlinear, viscoelastic, and anisotropic material that exhibits a very low coefficient of friction, allowing it to withstand millions of cycles of joint loading over decades of wear. Here, a three‐dimensionally woven fiber scaffold that is infiltrated with an interpenetrating network hydrogel can build a functional biomaterial that provides the load‐bearing and tribological properties of native cartilage. An interpenetrating dual‐network “tough‐gel” consisting of alginate and polyacrylamide was infused into a porous three‐dimensionally woven poly(ϵ‐caprolactone) fiber scaffold, providing a versatile fiber‐reinforced composite structure as a potential acellular or cell‐based replacement for cartilage repair.