Improved Properties of Cross-Linked Sodium Hyaluronate Films.

CALLES JAVIER; RESSIA JORGE; LLABOT JUAN MANUEL; CHETONI PATRIZIA; PALMA, SANTIAGO; VALLES ENRIQUE

Granada

Congreso; European Polymer Congress. EPF 2011, XII GEP Congress; 2011

EPF

The hyaluronan (HA) or hyaluronic acid sodium salt is a naturally occurring biopolymer, composed of a repeating disaccharide that consists of alternating units of N-acetyl-β-D-glucosamine and β-D-glucuronic acid. It’s widely distributed in the human body composing the extracellular matrix of biological tissues. The biocompatibility and biodegradability of HA have made of it a material commonly used in treatment of osteoarthritis, drug delivery, ophthalmic surgery and tissue engineering (1-5). Despite these benefits, its fast water dissolution and a short residence times in biological tissues make necessary some structural modifications in order to overcome this drawbacks. The crosslinking process is the key to ensure better mechanical integrity in aqueous environments. Crosslinking heterogeneous methods have been reported (6) where reactions are carried out on solid HA, cast in the form of films or membranes, using glutaraldehyde (GTA) as crosslinker agent. Polymer crosslinking processes not only improve the strength of materials, also make it more rigid and fragile. In this work we propose the use of triacetin (TA) during the formulation to mitigate this unwanted effect, leading to more ductile materials.