Refilling of Ocular Lens Capsule with Copolymeric Hydrogel Containing Reversible Disulfide

Abstract

Polymer solutions can fill any potential irregular cavity using minimally invasive techniques and thus have potential uses in ophthalmology. We prepared acrylamide hydrogels containing disulfide bonds by free radical polymerization in aqueous ethanol. The hydrogels were liquefied using dithiothreitol to yield water-soluble acrylamide copolymers containing pendant thiol (-SH) groups. The weight average molecular weights of the copolymers ranged from 1.43 x 10(5) to 9.22 x 10(5) daltons by GPC. Ellman's analysis and Raman spectroscopy confirmed the presence of -SH. The aqueous solutions of these purified thiol-containing copolymers were oxidized with 3,3'-dithiodipropionic acid or air to reform the hydrogels. The moduli of the reformed hydrogels ranged from 0.27 to 1.1 kPa depending on concentration and thiol content. Rapid endocapsular gelation yielded optically clear gel within the lens capsular bag. This technique now enables us to validate methods to determine the biomechanics of the lens and its role in accommodation.

Design of an Injectable in Situ Gelation Biomaterials for Vitreous Substitute

“…Ravi et al 22 reported on an injectable hydrogel prepared by oxidation of an aqueous solution of acrylamide copolymers containing pendant thiol (−SH) groups. Gelation was achieved through a thiol-disulfide exchange reaction by adding 3,3′-dithiodipropionic acid.…”

Hydrogels for Potential Colon Drug Release by Thiol‐ene Conjugate Addition of a New Inulin Derivative

“…Many examples in the literature place the accent on the conjugate addition of thiol groups to unsaturated groups such as acrylic and vinyl sulfone, for the production of hydrogels, by using both bi-or multifunctional thiolbearing molecules. [24] Among the reagents used for this purpose, trimethylolpropane tris(3-mercaptopropionate) (TT) shows interesting properties in terms of reactivity and the physicochemical features of the final product after addition of its thiol moieties to p systems. [18,[25][26][27][28] In this work, we report the synthesis of new biocompatible, stimulus sensitive and biodegradable hydrogels, obtained by derivatizing inulin (INU) with divinyl sulfone (DV) and succinic anhydride (SA), then by crosslinking the resulting INUDVSA derivative with TT.…”

Controllable properties and microstructure of hydrogels based on crosslinked poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylates with different molecular weights

“…INTRODUCTION Hydrogels, consisting of crosslinked hydrophilic polymers, are a large group of materials widely used for biomedical purpose, 1 such as cell encapsulation, 2,3 contact lens materials, 4,5 wound dressings, 6 drug delivery vehicles 7,8 and artificial organs, 9 for their good biocompatibility and tissue-like elasticity. In addition, hydrogels have high permeability for oxygen, nutrients, and other water-soluble metabolites.…”