In this work, a 3D printed double-network (DN) hydrogel scaffold is designed with chitosan (CS) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as the framework matrix. The addition of PVA into the CS-based hydrogel clearly enhances the mechanical properties and lowers the swelling behaviors of the hydrogels. The crosslinking of CS with genipin can perform the pre-crosslinking to improve the viscosity and 3D printability of the hydrogel precursor, while increasing the PVA content results in lowering the viscosity and 3D printability of the pre-crosslinked hydrogel. The antibacterial property results of the DN hydrogel display that the hydrogel have favorable long-lasting antibacterial ability. The appropriate pre-crosslinked hydrogel with the CS/PVA mass ratio of 3:10 and pre-crosslinking time of 7 h is used for 3D printing to prepare the 3D printed porous DN hydrogels. Moreover, the anti-tumor drug doxorubicin (DOX) is loaded into the 3D printed porous DN hydrogels and the in vitro release study displays the sustainable drug release behavior. And the DOX release from hydrogel scaffold can be adjusted by the pH value of release environment. All of the results indicate that the porous DN CS/PVA hydrogel scaffolds have great application potential for tissue regeneration.
Keywords: 3D printing; chitosan; double network hydrogel; drug release; polyvinyl alcohol.
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