Abstract
Up to 7.5 wt % of chemically cross-linked gelatin microgel was incorporated into dopamine-modified poly(ethylene glycol) (PEGDM) adhesive to simultaneously improve the material property and bioactivity of the PEG-based bioadhesive. Incorporation of gelatin microgel reduced cure time while it increased the elastic modulus and cross-linking density of the adhesive network. Most notably, the loss modulus values for microgel-containing adhesive were an order of magnitude higher when compared to microgel-free control. This drastic increase in the viscous dissipation ability of the adhesive is attributed to the introduction of reversible physical bonds into the adhesive network with the incorporation of the gelatin microgel. Additionally, incorporation of the microgel increased the adhesive properties of PEGDM by 1.5- to 2-fold. From in vitro cell culture studies, the composite adhesive is noncytotoxic and the incorporation of microgels provided binding site for promoting fibroblast attachment and viability. The subcutaneous implantation study indicated that the microgel-containing PEGDM adhesive is biocompatible and the incorporated microgels provided pockets for rapid cellular infiltration. Gelatin microgel incorporation was demonstrated to be a facile method to simultaneously enhance the adhesive property and the bioactivity of PEG-based adhesive.