Abstract
Light processable hydrogels were successfully fabricated by utilizing maize starch as raw material. To render light processability, starch was gelatinized and methacrylated by simple reaction with methacrylic anhydride. The methacrylated starch was then evaluated for its photocuring reactivity and 3D printability by digital light processing (DLP). Hydrogels with good mechanical properties and biocompatibility were obtained by direct curing from aqueous solution containing lithium phenyl-2,4,6-trimethylbenzoylphosphinate (LAP) as photo-initiator. The properties of the hydrogels were tunable by simply changing the concentration of starch in water. Photo-rheology showed that the formulations with 10 or 15 wt% starch started curing immediately and reached G’ plateau after only 60 s, while it took 90 s for the 5 wt% formulation. The properties of the photocured hydrogels were further characterized by rheology, compressive tests, and swelling experiments. Increasing the starch content from 10 to 15 wt% increased the compressive stiffness from 13 to 20 kPa. This covers the stiffness of different body tissues giving promise for the use of the hydrogels in tissue engineering applications. Good cell viability with human fibroblast cells was confirmed for all three starch hydrogel formulations indicating no negative effects from the methacrylation or photo-crosslinking reaction. Finally, the light processability of methacrylated starch by digital light processing (DLP) 3D printing directly from aqueous solution was successfully demonstrated. Altogether the results are promising for future application of the hydrogels in tissue engineering and as cell carriers
Highlights
Hydrogels are three-dimensional polymeric networks with the ability of retaining large amount of water within their structures without dissolving
Methacrylated maize starch was successfully light processed to hydrogels either by photo-curing
Methacrylated maize starch was successfully light processed to hydrogels either by photowith UV-lamp or by digital light processing (DLP) 3D-printing directly from aqueous solution
Summary
Hydrogels are three-dimensional polymeric networks with the ability of retaining large amount of water within their structures without dissolving Their crosslinked networks can be formed by either chemical or physical gelation process. The physical gel process involves weak Van der Waals forces, electrostatic interaction, and hydrogen bonding while the chemical gel formation leads to strong chemically bonded networks. Thanks to their hydrophilicity, hydrogels can be utilized by a broad range of sectors including agro-industry, pharmaceutical, medical, and food applications [1,2,3,4,5]. Starch is an abundant polysaccharide composed of a mixture of two different D-glucose polymers: amylose and amylopectin.
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