Viscosity Attunes the Adhesion of Bioinspired Low Modulus Polyester Adhesive Sealants to Wet Tissues

Abstract

Clinically used bio-based tissue sealants bring in the risk of animal-borne infections, non-degradability, allergic reactions, tissue compression, tissue necrosis, and poor wet adhesion. Motivated by these unsatisfactory properties of existing tissue sealants, herein, we designed a library of solvent-and initiator-free hydrophobic musselinspired degradable tissue adhesives that can stick and seal the epidermis, pericardium, and Glisson's capsule under physiologically relevant wet conditions. By varying the molar ratio of the functional groups, we obtained polyester adhesive sealants with similar surface energy and varying viscosity. The careful examination of the wetting behavior of these polyester adhesive sealants on tissue surfaces showed that the polyester adhesive sealant with lower viscosity has higher intrinsic work of adhesion, which allowed them to adhere to strongly hydrated surfaces such as pericardium and Glisson's capsule. Because of the lower intrinsic work of adhesion, the polyester adhesive sealant with higher viscosity only adhered to the relatively hydrophobic surface (epidermis). The strong wet adhesion to tissue surfaces, cell-compatibility, hydrolytic degradability, and radical scavenging nature of these polyester adhesive sealants make them potential candidates for wound closure procedures.

Advances in Photoreactive Tissue Adhesives Derived from Natural Polymers

“…The Soy-diol enriched copolyesters show low viscosity and hydrophobicity that allow the copolyesters to spread to substrates submerged underwater without any organic solvents or plasticizers. Narayanan et al evaluated the tissue adhesive behavior of the soybean oil-derived copolyesters ( Figure 6A) [97]. Tissues derived from the porcine skin, heart, and liver were submerged in PBS buffer, the adhesive was brought in contact, and the area of contact was subjected to photoirradiation (λ rxn = 340 nm, intensity = 50 mW/cm 2 , time of exposure = 5 min).…”

“…The authors propose that the low viscosity of the adhesive is a crucial parameter to enable adhesion to internal organs compared to the skin, because the internal tissue surfaces are rich in water compared to the skin ( Figure 6B). The polyester with a higher viscosity (P3) does not adhere to tissue surfaces with higher water content such as the heart and liver [97]. Copyright 2019, reproduced with permission from the American Chemical Society.…”

“…the origin of the tissue-specific adhesion observed in the polyesters. The polyester with a higher viscosity (P3) does not adhere to tissue surfaces with higher water content such as the heart and liver [97]. Copyright 2019, reproduced with permission from the American Chemical Society.…”

Ex Vivo Comparison of A UV-Polymerizable Methacrylate Adhesive Versus an Inverting Pattern as the Second Layer of a Two-Layer Hand-Sewn Jejunal Anastomosis in Horses

“…An e cient surgical adhesive capable to strongly seal and replace traditional suture would be a great tool for surgeons and a major clinical breakthrough because it would simplify surgical procedures, thereby reducing the incidence of numerous surgical complications. Research on surgical adhesives is intense in the development of novel solutions (25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30).…”

Tropoelastin-Inspired, Non-Ionic, Self-Coacervating Polyesters as Strong Underwater Adhesives

“…[34] Movie S2 demonstrates the rapid curing of HyPPos (~ 3 min) to devise strong adhesive joints underwater. The rapid and temporal nature of the adhesive curing and degradability [20,35] of HyPPos have broad significance for the use of these water-borne adhesives as surgical sealants or tissue adhesives.…”