Photocrosslinking
Applications / Photocrosslinking
In life sciences, photocrosslinkable hydrogels have been developed to overcome the low mechanical strength and processability of soft biomaterials including collagen, gelatin, hyaluronic acid, dextran, among others. These biomaterials contain photosensitive groups that are chemically introduced into their chains to allow their crosslinking under light exposure. These induced reactions make a liquid solution turn into a solid gel (gelation process) in a controlled manner.
The use of photocrosslinkable hydrogels offers many different strategies to control their final viscoelastic properties. The concentration of the biomaterial and photoinitiator, their degree of modification, the light intensity and exposure time can all be varied to fine tune the outcomes. With these many variables, it can be challenging to analyze the possible combinations in an effective way.
ElastoSens™ Bio can apply light at selected wavelengths (365 nm, 385 nm, and 405 nm – or others) during testing to obtain the crosslinking kinetics in real time of photosensitive biomaterials. These biomaterials can be poured directly into the sample holder and tested during crosslinking under controlled temperature, light exposure time and light intensity (in mW/cm2). The instrument measures, with no contact, real time changes in the sample height (or volume) and in the storage (G’) and loss (G’’) shear modulus which are immediately displayed on the tablet.
In this example, the evolution of the shear storage modulus (G’, Pa) as a function of time for a methacrylated gelatin (PhotoGel® 10%, Advanced BioMatrix, CA, USA) is shown under light exposure for 2, 4 and 6 minutes. The light was programmed to be switched on at 10 minutes of testing with the mentioned duration. Interestingly, the increase in G’ continued even after the light was switched off but at a lower rate. This means that the crosslinking reactions were still occurring for some minutes more (10-20 min).
ElastoSens™ Bio is able to capture the crosslinking kinetics under light exposure of photocrosslinkable hydrogels in real time. Scientists can now better understand the behavior of their biomaterials under different light intensities and exposure times. This also helps them to identify which light exposure time and intensity are needed to reach a target viscoelasticity.
The effect of light exposure and formulation on the photocrosslinking kinetics of modified gelatin and hyaluronic acid from Advanced BioMatrix using ElastoSens™ Bio
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