The effect of hydration on the biomechanical properties of fibrin and fibrin-agarose (FA) tissue-like hydrogels is reported. Native hydrogels with approximately 99.5% of water content and hydrogels with water content reduced until 90% and 80% by means of plastic compression (nanostructuration) were generated. The biomechanical properties of the hydrogels were investigated by tensile, compressive, and shear tests. Experimental results indicate that nanostructuration enhances the biomechanical properties of the hydrogels. This improvement is due to the partial draining of the water that fills the porous network of fibers that the plastic compression generates, which produces a denser material, as confirmed by scanning electron microscopy. Results also indicate that the characteristic compressive and shear parameters increase with agarose concentration, very likely due to the high water holding capacity of agarose, which reduces the compressibility and gives consistency to the hydrogels. However, results of tensile tests indicate a weakening of the hydrogels as agarose concentration increases, which evidences the anisotropic nature of these biomaterials. Interestingly, we found that by adjusting the water and agarose contents it is possible to tune the biomechanical properties of FA hydrogels for a broad range, within which the properties of many native tissues fall.
Keywords: agarose; fibrin; hydrogel; mechanical properties; scaffold.
© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.