First Aldol-Crosslinked Hyaluronic Acid Hydrogel: Fast and Hydrolytically Stable Gel with Tissue Adhesive Properties

Currently, there are limited approaches to tailor 3D scaffolds crosslinked with a stable covalent C-C bond that does not require any catalysts or initiators. We present here the first hydrogels employing aldol condensation chemistry that exhibit exceptional physicochemical properties. We investigated the aldol-crosslinking chemistry using two types of aldehyde-modified hyaluronic acid (HA) derivatives, namely; an enolizable HA-aldehyde (HA-Eal) and a non-enolizable HA-aldehyde (HA-Nal). Hydrogels formed using HA-Eal demonstrate inferior crosslinking efficiency (due to intramolecular loop formation), when compared with hydrogels formed by mixing HA-Eal and HA-NaI leading to a cross-aldol product. The change in mechanical properties as a result of crosslinking at different pH is determined using rheological measurements and is interpreted in terms of molecular weight between cross-links (Mc). The novel HA cross-aldol hydrogels demonstrate excellent hydrolytic stability and favorable mechanical properties but allow hyaluronidase mediated enzymatic degradation. Interestingly, residual aldehyde functionality within the aldol product leads to adhesion to tissue as demonstrated by bonding two bone tissues. The aldehyde functionality also permits facile post-synthetic modifications with nucleophilic reagents such as Alexa FluorTM 488. Finally, we demonstrate that the novel hydrogel is biocompatible with encapsulated stem cells that show a linear rate of expansion in our 3–6 days of study.