Effect of AAc-GA content on swelling behaviors of temperature-sensitive PNIPAAm-based hydrogels

Abstract

A series of temperature-sensitive poly (NIPAAm-co-AAc-GA) hydrogels were synthesized by the copolymerization of glycyrrhetinic acid with vinyl monomer (AAc-GA) and N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) in N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF). Since GA has the specific binding capacity to asialoglycoprotein receptors on the membrane of hepatocyte, the hydrogel with GA could be expected as good candidate for hepatic cell culture. The results showed that macroporous and channel network structure was formed in the hydrogel matrix. With increasing the AAc-GA content, the swelling ratios of hydrogels and lower critical solution temperature (LCST) increased because of the hydrophilic group of AAc-GA and the macroporous structure. In addition, the prepared hydrogels could respond quickly to temperature and exhibited good reversible temperature-responsive characteristics.

Glycyrrhetinic Acid-Based Thermoresponsive Hydrogel As a Synthetic Extracellular Matrix for Hepatocyte Culture and Recovery

“…The swelling properties of the hydrogel may depend on the network structure of the polymer. As the interior morphology of hydrogels showed in our previous report, 28 the pore size of hydrogel increased with the increase of r, which resulted in more easy entry of water molecules into the network of hydrogel.…”