Issue 2, 2020

A self-healable and antifouling hydrogel based on PDMS centered ABA tri-block copolymer polymersomes: a potential material for therapeutic contact lenses

Abstract

Herein we have prepared an antifouling and self-healable poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) based hydrogel which consists of a mixture of curcumin loaded zwitterionic PDMS polymersomes and amine functionalized PDMS polymersomes prepared via Reversible Addition–Fragmentation Chain Transfer (RAFT) polymerization and a Schiff-base reaction. The curcumin loaded polymersome consists of a PDMS and poly([dimethyl-[3-(2-methyl-acryloylamino)-propyl]-(3-sulfopropyl)ammonium)] (poly(sulfobetaine)) based tri-block copolymer (BCP) and it was characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) analyses. To prepare the hydrogel, amine functionalized PDMS polymersomes were crosslinked with polyethylene glycol dialdehyde (PEG-DA) in pH 7.4 buffer solution via a Schiff-base reaction. This hydrogel was able to show sustained delivery of the entrapped curcumin drug for more than 72 h. The self-healing characteristic of the prepared hydrogel in the presence of saline water was elucidated by the “scratch and heal” method and subsequently analyzed through tensile study. Due to the presence of the poly(zwitterionic) moiety in the hydrogel system, it was observed that the hydrogel can efficiently reduce protein deposition, where Bovine Serum Albumin (BSA) was taken as a model protein. It was observed that the curcumin loaded hydrogel was detrimental towards both Gram-negative (Escherichia coli) and Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria. This type of smart soft hydrogel system can be a potential material for therapeutic applications for several eye diseases.

Graphical abstract: A self-healable and antifouling hydrogel based on PDMS centered ABA tri-block copolymer polymersomes: a potential material for therapeutic contact lenses

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
11 May 2019
Accepted
01 Nov 2019
First published
04 Nov 2019

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2020,8, 226-243

A self-healable and antifouling hydrogel based on PDMS centered ABA tri-block copolymer polymersomes: a potential material for therapeutic contact lenses

S. L. Banerjee, S. Samanta, S. Sarkar and N. K. Singha, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2020, 8, 226 DOI: 10.1039/C9TB00949C

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements