Integrative control of mechanical and degradation properties of in situ crosslinkable polyamine-based hydrogels for dual-mode drug release kinetics

Abstract

Michael addition has been extensively utilized in recent years to fabricate hydrogels for biomedical applications because of their ability to undergo reaction under physiological conditions without the need of catalyst. In this study, mechanical properties and degradation behavior of in situ crosslinkable hydrogels prepared from poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) and polyethyleneimine (PEI) are explored. Varying the concentrations of PEGDA and PEI, as well as the molecular weight of PEGDA, allow for the control of mechanical properties in a wide range. In addition, the hydrogels are all shown to undergo degradation due to the expedited hydrolysis of ester linkages by the presence of unreacted amine groups on PEI. the PEGDA-PEI hydrogel display a dual-mode drug release kinetics in which the drug release was governed by swelling-controlled and degradation-controlled mechanisms in sequence, which demonstrates the potential of this hydrogel system for drug delivery applications.