Abstract
The biomedical burden of large bone defects caused by trauma, infection, tumours or inherent genetic disorders remains a clinical challenge. Autologous bone or autograft continue to be the clinical “gold standard” for most effective bone regeneration, which is limited by bone supply and donor site morbidity. Thus, current synthetic substitutes need to be improved to match the performance of autografts.Bone tissue engineering is an attractive approach for regeneration of bone especially in relation to critical sized defects and a scaffold with osteoinductive properties and adequate mechanical properties is expected to enhance bone formation. The aim of the study is to enhance bone regeneration and the concept is based on adequate design of three dimensional scaffolds that mimic the structure of bone, which by virtue of its inherent properties have the ability to localise fluids rich in osteoinductive factors.
The hydrogels and composites were all synthesized with a base polymer polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), which is both robust, biocompatible and FDA approved material. Facile methods of crosslinking such as air-drying and freeze-drying which introduces a level of porosity in the materials due to the lyophilisation process, were used to render the hydrogels insoluble, and conditions optimised to yield materials with properties suitable for soft bone tissue applications.
PVA hydrogels were synthesized and characterised, results indicated that water uptake, glass transition and tensile strength were influenced by varying concentration of the polymer solution.
A new type of dual network (DN) hydrogel composed of PVA and alginate was developed and optimised. Characterisations by spectral and thermal analysis, confirmed incorporation of alginate within the PVA network structure. Hydration dynamics and tensile properties, indicated that DN formed from a PVA base crosslinked by two freeze thaw cycles yielded tough hydrogels with controlled swelling, making them suitable for
| Date of Award | 2016 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Sanjukta Deb (Supervisor) |