Evaluation of two chemical crosslinking methods of poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogels for injectable nucleus pulposus replacement

摘要: Low back pain caused by intervertebral disc degeneration is one of the most common spinal disorders among patients seeking medical treatment. The surgical treatments are fusion and total arthroplasty, both which very invasive procedures. Nucleus pulposus replacement an earlier stage intervention for degeneration. One material classes being studied this application hydrogels: a three-dimensional hydrated network polymer(s), mimics mechanical physiological properties nucleus. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP), poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogels have previously been shown to be great candidate materials injectable nucleus replacement, but experienced issues with swelling mass retention. addition chemical crosslinking PVA/PVP/PEG hydrogel system will allow tailoring swelling, mechanical, injectability, loss network. Two methods were evaluated characterizing compression, spectroscopy experiments. results these experiments led selection difunctional strategy using PEG functionalized terminal epoxide group (PEG diglycidyl ether) as preferred method. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40843.