Potential Evaluation of PVA-Based Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

P oly vinyl alcohol PVA -based hydrogels prepared using freeze/thawing treatment have become increasingly important biomaterials for biomedical applications having great properties such as biocompatibility, biodegradability and high water absorbency. In this study, PVA-based physically cross-linked hydrogels were prepared with and without the presence of poly ethylene glycol PEG freezing at -16 °C for 16 h and thawing at room temperature for 8 h. The focus of this work was to address the effect of the addition of PEG Mw: 2000 or 5000 and the effect of the number of freezing/thawing cycles on swelling behaviour. The Scanning Electron Microscopy SEM measurements demonstrated the morphological characteristics of PVA-based hydrogels indicating the formation of the macroporosity fabricated during freeze/thawing process. From the swelling tests undertaken it w as apparent that all the hydrogels exhibited unique swelling characteristics having high swelling degree at all pH values such as pH 2.1, 5.5 and 7.4 representing the pH values of stomach, blood and dermis. Thus, the hydrogels synthesized in this study present important potential for biomedical applications