TY - GEN
T1 - Effect of gelation temperature on PLA-PEO-PLA physical hydrogel morphology
AU - Harwood, Stuart
AU - Tew, Gregory N.
AU - Bhatia, Surita R.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Poly(lactic acid)-poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(lactic acid) (PLA-PEO-PLA) triblock copolymer hydrogels are a promising biomaterial, with applications to drug delivery and cell scaffolds for tissue engineering. Using L-Iactic acid gives PLLA-PEO-PLLA, which has stereo regular end blocks. The resulting system forms lamellae with hydrophobic semi crystalline domains of PLLA with hydrophilic domains of PEO connecting them. Gelation is achieved by raising the temperature of the polymer/water mixture, and this study focuses on the effect on the nano- and microscale structures of the gel that the gelation temperature has. By confocal microscopy, we determine the average particle size on the microscale increases from 2.3 pm to 3 pm from an increase in gelation temperature of 40°C to 80°C. Meanwhile, small angle x-ray scattering indicates that the nanoscale structures, the lamellae, are unchanged over the same range. This implies that an annealing effect is occurring. The lamellae align to a greater degree with a higher temperature, increasing the size of the semi-crystalline domains.
AB - Poly(lactic acid)-poly(ethylene oxide)-poly(lactic acid) (PLA-PEO-PLA) triblock copolymer hydrogels are a promising biomaterial, with applications to drug delivery and cell scaffolds for tissue engineering. Using L-Iactic acid gives PLLA-PEO-PLLA, which has stereo regular end blocks. The resulting system forms lamellae with hydrophobic semi crystalline domains of PLLA with hydrophilic domains of PEO connecting them. Gelation is achieved by raising the temperature of the polymer/water mixture, and this study focuses on the effect on the nano- and microscale structures of the gel that the gelation temperature has. By confocal microscopy, we determine the average particle size on the microscale increases from 2.3 pm to 3 pm from an increase in gelation temperature of 40°C to 80°C. Meanwhile, small angle x-ray scattering indicates that the nanoscale structures, the lamellae, are unchanged over the same range. This implies that an annealing effect is occurring. The lamellae align to a greater degree with a higher temperature, increasing the size of the semi-crystalline domains.
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/70349138505
U2 - 10.1109/NEBC.2009.4967815
DO - 10.1109/NEBC.2009.4967815
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:70349138505
SN - 9781424443628
T3 - Proceedings of the IEEE Annual Northeast Bioengineering Conference, NEBEC
BT - NEBEC 2009 - Proceedings of the IEEE 35th Annual Northeast Bioengineering Conference
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - IEEE 35th Annual Northeast Bioengineering Conference, NEBEC 2009
Y2 - 3 April 2009 through 5 April 2009
ER -