Self-healing hydrogels of oxidized pullulan and poly(vinyl alcohol)

Maria Bercea; Gabriela Biliuta; Mihaela Avadanei; Raluca Ioana Baron; Maria Butnaru; Sergiu Coseri

doi:10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.11.001

Self-healing hydrogels of oxidized pullulan and poly(vinyl alcohol)

Carbohydr Polym. 2019 Feb 15:206:210-219. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.11.001. Epub 2018 Nov 2.

Authors

Maria Bercea¹, Gabriela Biliuta², Mihaela Avadanei², Raluca Ioana Baron², Maria Butnaru³, Sergiu Coseri²

Affiliations

¹ "Petru Poni" Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, European Polysaccharide Network of Excellence (EPNOE), 41-A, Grigore Ghica Voda Alley, 700487, Iasi, Romania. Electronic address: bercea@icmpp.ro.
² "Petru Poni" Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, European Polysaccharide Network of Excellence (EPNOE), 41-A, Grigore Ghica Voda Alley, 700487, Iasi, Romania.
³ Faculty of Medical Bioengineering, "Gr. T. Popa" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 700115, Iasi, Romania.

PMID: 30553315
DOI: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2018.11.001

Abstract

Composite hydrogels of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and C₆-fully oxidized pullulan (OxP) were prepared and investigated. Hydrogels with different content of OxP into the PVA matrix were prepared by freezing/thawing method. FTIR and NMR were used to assess the degree of interaction between the two polymers into the physical network. The morphology analysis has shown an excellent distribution of the OxP inside the PVA matrix. The effect of polymer composition on the diffractogram patterns and viscoelastic parameters was examined and an optimum composition of 7.5% OxP in the PVA hydrogel was identified, being characterized by high crystallinity and gel strength. The self-healing ability of the hydrogels was revealed, after submitting the sample to a large deformation it recovers very fast the initial structure. The cell viability was tested and promising results were obtained for PVA/OxP hydrogels. The synergism between PVA and OxP into the physical network recommends these hydrogels for biomedical applications.

Keywords: Cytotoxicity; Hydrogel; Oxidized pullulan; Poly(vinyl alcohol); Self-healing.