Abstract—Self-inflating hydrogel tissue expanders with controlled and anisotropic properties are highly pursued in today’s plastic and reconstructive surgeries. This study designs an interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) self-inflating hydrogel tissue expander by crosslinking poly (DL-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) in the presence of a poly (N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone-co-methyl methacrylate) (VP/MMA) gel base. PLGA was functionalized with acrylate end-capping before the crosslinking. The swelling behavior and the mechanical properties of the IPN hydrogels with different PLGA contents were studied and compared to plain VP/MMA hydrogels. The initial and overall expansion rate was decreased with increasing PLGA content, while the equilibrium swelling ratio decreased with an increase in PLGA crosslinking density. The delayed expansion of IPN hydrogels is attributed to the increased hydrophobicity of the networks, which is verified by the increasing values of the Flory-Huggins interaction parameter (χ). Anisotropic IPN expanders were prepared by hot pressing IPN xerogels at 161℃. Their controlled and anisotropic properties give the IPN hydrogels a great potential in the plastic and reconstructive surgeries.

Index Terms—IPN, VP/MMA, PLGA, tissue expander

Cite: Yun Zhu and Jan T. Czernuszka, "Inter-penetrating Polymer Network Hydrogel Tissue Expanders with Controlled Expansion and Anisotropic Properties," Journal of Medical and Bioengineering, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 86-92, April 2015. Doi: 10.12720/jomb.4.2.86-92