Customized PEG‐Derived Copolymers for Tissue‐Engineering Applications

Abstract

PEG-containing copolymers play a prominent role as biomaterials for different applications ranging from drug delivery to tissue engineering. These custom-designed materials offer enormous possibilities to change the overall characteristics of biomaterials by improving their biocompatibility and solubility, as well as their ability to crystallize in polymer blends and to resist protein adsorption. This article demonstrates various principles of PEG-based material design that are applied to fine tune the properties of biomaterials for different tissue engineering applications. More specifically, strategies are described to develop PEG copolymers with various block compositions and specific bulk properties, including low melting points and improved surface hydrophilicity. Highly hydrated polymer gel networks for promoting cellular growth or suppressing protein adsorption and cell adhesion are introduced. By incorporating selectively cleavable cross-links, these hydrophilic polymers can also serve as smart hydrogel scaffolds, mimicking the natural extracellular matrix for cell cultivation and tissue growth. Ultimately, these developments lead to the creation of biomimetic materials to immobilize bioactive compounds, allowing precise control of cellular adhesion and tissue growth. [image: see text]

Extended interaction of β1 integrin subunit-deficient cells (GD25) with surfaces modified with fibronectin-derived peptides: Culture optimization, adhesion and cytokine panel studies

“…PEG hydrogel surfaces-In general, PEG surfaces, including PEG hydrogels, are viewed in the literature as being unfavorable to cell adhesion due to the polymer's high hydrophilicity preventing protein absorption [1,2,45]. In this study, however, the percent viable cells and adherent density of GD25 on PEG hydrogels beyond 2 h of culture were comparable to TCPS and TCPS-FN surfaces.…”

Light-Guided Surface Engineering for Biomedical Applications

“…Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) has long been utilized for reducing protein adsorption to biomaterial surfaces, is biocompatible, and is amenable to the grafting of functional groups (14). NHS-PEG-FITC is a commercially available heterobifunctional reagent used to detect PEGylation efficiency in bioconjugate chemistry, and combines the properties of PEG with the bioconjugation moiety NHS (amine-reactive) for immobilization on a variety of substrates, as well as a FITC dye, to enable detection of the PEGylated species in vitro or ex vivo.…”

Hydrogel-Based Platforms for the Regeneration of Osteochondral Tissue and Intervertebral Disc

“…On the other hand, synthetic hydrogels can be prepared with tailored and highly reproducible chemical characteristics, thereby enabling the required degradation properties [15]. The combination of the different monomer units results in hydrogels with controlled characteristics in terms of degradation rate, swelling ratios, and mechanical properties [16]. They can be tailored for specific applications with the incorporation of biofunctions, and their transport properties can also be customized by adjusting polymer chain lengths and density [7].…”