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Degradation of Partially Oxidized Alginate and Its Potential Application for Tissue Engineering
Author(s) -
Bouhadir Kamal H.,
Lee Kuen Yong,
Alsberg Eben,
Damm Kelly L.,
Anderson Kenneth W.,
Mooney David J.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
biotechnology progress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.572
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1520-6033
pISSN - 8756-7938
DOI - 10.1021/bp010070p
Subject(s) - periodate , calcium alginate , chemistry , aqueous solution , self healing hydrogels , hydrolysis , degradation (telecommunications) , polymer , chemical engineering , glucuronic acid , biodegradation , in vivo , tissue engineering , biophysics , polymer chemistry , calcium , polysaccharide , organic chemistry , biomedical engineering , medicine , telecommunications , microbiology and biotechnology , computer science , engineering , biology
Alginate has been widely used in a variety of biomedical applications including drug delivery and cell transplantation. However, alginate itself has a very slow degradation rate, and its gels degrade in an uncontrollable manner, releasing high molecular weight strands that may have difficulty being cleared from the body. We hypothesized that the periodate oxidation of alginate, which cleaves the carbon‐carbon bond of the cis ‐diol group in the uronate residue and alters the chain conformation, would result in promoting the hydrolysis of alginate in aqueous solutions. Alginate, oxidized to a low extent (∼5%), degraded with a rate depending on the pH and temperature of the solution. This polymer was still capable of being ionically cross‐linked with calcium ions to form gels, which degraded within 9 days in PBS solution. Finally, the use of these degradable alginate‐derived hydrogels greatly improved cartilage‐like tissue formation in vivo, as compared to alginate hydrogels.