Resorbable hydrogels have numerous potential applications in tissue engineering and drug delivery due to their highly tunable properties and soft tissue-like mechanical properties. The incorporation of esters into the backbone of poly(ethylene glycol) hydrogels has been used to develop libraries of hydrogels with tunable degradation rates. However, these synthetic strategies used to increase degradation rate often result in undesired changes in the hydrogel physical properties such as matrix modulus or swelling. In an effort to decouple degradation rate from other hydrogel properties, we inserted thio-β esters into the poly(ethylene glycol)-diacrylate backbone to introduce labile bonds without changing macromer molecular weight. This allowed the number of hydrolytically labile thio-β esters to be controlled through changing the ratios of this modified macromer to the original macromer without affecting network properties. The retention of hydrogel properties at different macromer ratios was confirmed by measuring gel fraction, swelling ratio, and compressive modulus. The tunable degradation profiles were characterized both in vitro and in vivo. Following confirmation of cytocompatibility after exposure to the hydrogel degradation products, the in vivo host response was evaluated in comparison to medical grade silicone. Collectively, this work demonstrates the utility and tunability of these hydrolytically degradable hydrogels for a wide variety of tissue engineering applications.

中文翻译：

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具有Thio-β酯的聚乙二醇水凝胶的体内表征。

可吸收水凝胶具有高度可调节的特性和类似软组织的机械特性，因此在组织工程和药物输送中具有众多潜在应用。将酯掺入聚乙二醇水凝胶的骨架中已被用于开发具有可调降解速率的水凝胶库。但是，这些用于提高降解速率的合成策略通常会导致水凝胶物理特性（例如基质模量或溶胀）发生不良变化。为了使降解速率与其他水凝胶性能脱钩，我们将硫代-β酯插入了聚（乙二醇）-二丙烯酸酯骨架中，以引入不稳定的键，而不会改变大分子单体的分子量。这允许通过改变该改性的大分子单体与原始大分子单体的比例来控制水解不稳定的硫代-β酯的数目，而不影响网络性质。通过测量凝胶分数，溶胀率和压缩模量，证实了在不同大分子单体比率下水凝胶性质的保留。在体外和体内均对可降解降解特性进行了表征。在确认暴露于水凝胶降解产物后的细胞相容性后，与医用级有机硅进行了比较，评估了体内宿主反应。总的来说，这项工作证明了这些可水解降解的水凝胶在各种组织工程应用中的实用性和可调性。通过测量凝胶分数，溶胀率和压缩模量，证实了在不同大分子单体比率下水凝胶性质的保留。在体外和体内均对可降解降解特性进行了表征。在确认暴露于水凝胶降解产物后的细胞相容性后，与医用级有机硅进行了比较，评估了体内宿主反应。总的来说，这项工作证明了这些可水解降解的水凝胶在各种组织工程应用中的实用性和可调性。通过测量凝胶分数，溶胀率和压缩模量，证实了在不同大分子单体比率下水凝胶性质的保留。在体外和体内均对可降解降解特性进行了表征。在确认暴露于水凝胶降解产物后的细胞相容性后，与医用级有机硅进行了比较，评估了体内宿主反应。总的来说，这项工作证明了这些可水解降解的水凝胶在各种组织工程应用中的实用性和可调性。在确认暴露于水凝胶降解产物后的细胞相容性后，与医用级有机硅进行了比较，评估了体内宿主反应。总的来说，这项工作证明了这些可水解降解的水凝胶在各种组织工程应用中的实用性和可调性。在确认暴露于水凝胶降解产物后的细胞相容性后，与医用级有机硅进行了比较，评估了体内宿主反应。总的来说，这项工作证明了这些可水解降解的水凝胶在各种组织工程应用中的实用性和可调性。