We present unique molding/bonding processes to fabricate microstructured Ca-alginate hydrogel plates. We employed propylene glycol alginate (PGA), an ester derivative of alginate, which suppresses the shrinkage of sodium alginate (NaA) during the gelation process, and prepared microstructured hydrogel plates via molding. Also, a bonding procedure utilizing polycation coating is presented to obt...

We numerically demonstrated the characteristics of a functional hydrogel layer on a silicon-based grating waveguide for a simple, cost-effective refractive index (RI) biochemical sensor. The RI of the functional hydrogel layer changes when a specific biochemical interaction occurs between the hydrogel-linked receptors and injected ligand molecules. The transmission spectral profile of the grati...

In this work, we aim to develop a dual drug delivery system (DDDS) of self-assembled micelles in thermosensitive hydrogel composite to deliver hydrophilic and hydrophobic drugs simultaneously for colorectal peritoneal carcinomatosis (CRPC) therapy. In our previous studies, we found that poly(ε-caprolactone)-poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCEC) copolymers with different molecular we...

JULY/AUGUST 2011 CATARACT & REFRACTIVE SURGERY TODAY EUROPE 29 H ydrogels, which mimic living tissue more than any other synthetic biomaterial because of their high water content and tensile strength, have numerous clinical applications in ophthalmology. Their soft, rubbery consistency can minimize friction with surrounding cells and tissue,1 and their degree of flexibility is similar to the ey...

Valve endothelial cells (VEC) have unique phenotypic responses relative to other types of vascular endothelial cells and have highly sensitive hemostatic functions affected by changes in valve tissues. Furthermore, effects of environmental factors on VEC hemostatic function has not been characterized. This work used a poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate (PEGDA) hydrogel platform to evaluate the ef...

Lemongrass oil (LGO) is a volatile oil extracted from the leaves of Cymbopogon citratus that has become one of the most important natural oils in the pharmaceutical industry because of its diverse pharmacologic and clinical effects. However, LGO suffers from low aqueous solubility, which could lead to a reduced effect. Moreover, the instability of its major active constituent, citral, could lea...

Silkworm silk has been widely used as a textile fiber, as biomaterials and in optically functional materials due to its extraordinary properties. The β-sheet-rich natural nanofiber units of about 10-50 nm in diameter are often considered the origin of these properties, yet it remains unclear how silk self-assembles into these hierarchical structures. A new system composed of β-sheet-rich silk n...

Hydrogels' applications are usually limited by their weak mechanical properties. Despite recent great progress in developing tough hydrogels, it is still challenging to achieve high values of , toughness and modulus all together in synthetic hydrogels. In this paper, we designed highly stretchable, tough, yet stiff hydrogel composites via a combination of nanoscale hybrid crosslinking and macro...