Controlled Degradation and Mechanical Behavior of Photopolymerized Hyaluronic Acid Networks

Hyaluronic acid is a natural polysaccharide found abundantly throughout the body with many desirable properties for application as a biomaterial, including scaffolding for tissue engineering. In this work, hyaluronic acid with molecular weights ranging from 50 to 1100 kDa was modified with methacrylic anhydride and photopolymerized into networks with a wide range of physical properties. With macromer concentrations from 2 to 20 wt %, networks exhibited volumetric swelling ratios ranging from approximately 42 to 8, compressive moduli ranging from approximately 2 to over 100 kPa, and degradation times ranging from less than 1 day up to almost 38 days in the presence of 100 U/mL of hyaluronidase. When…