Effect of the content of starch on the biocompatibility, bacterial inhibition, and drug release performance of semi-IPN collagen-polyurethane hydrogels

Abstract

This work studied the effect of content of starch on the structure and properties of hydrogels generated by semi-interpenetrating the polysaccharide in the collagen-polyurethane matrix and generating biomaterials in the hydrogel state potentially useful in biomedicine. Starch increased the reticulation of the polymeric matrix by hydrogen bonding with the collagen fibers. The maximum swelling degree was observed for the formulation containing 40 wt.% of starch. The microstructure of these materials is semi-crystalline and the increase of the content of starch avoids the segregation of starch granules in the matrix, generating homogeneous surfaces that tend to release less glucose-rich degradation by-products and encapsulated ketorolac. Materials with low content of starch (10–20 wt.%) improve both the mechanical and thermal stability of the hydrogels and the ketorolac release performance. The matrices activated the metabolism of monocytes and fibroblasts, favoring their proliferation. The presence of starch in semi-IPN hydrogels confers high inhibition capacity of E. coli and a slow rate of hydrolytic and proteolytic degradation. The results of cell signaling for important cytokines in the wound healing process indicated that the CS20% matrix shows favorable modulation of TNF-α, MCP-1, and TGF-β secretion, so it could be successfully applied in the treatment of chronic wounds.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Hydrogel
• semi-IPN
• collagen
• polyurethane
• starch
• biomedicine

Authors’ contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Conceptualization: Martin Caldera-Villalobos and Jesús A. Claudio-Rizo; Methodology: Jesús A. Claudio-Rizo, Juan J. Becerra-Rodriguez and Valeria Abigail Rodríguez-Estrada; Formal analysis and investigation: Martin Caldera-Villalobos, Valeria Abigail Rodríguez-Estrada and Jesús A. Claudio-Rizo; Writing - original draft preparation: Martin Caldera-Villalobos and Jesús A. Claudio-Rizo; Writing - review and editing: Martin Caldera-Villalobos and Jesús A. Claudio-Rizo; Funding acquisition: Jesús A. Claudio-Rizo; Resources: Jesús A. Claudio-Rizo, Juan J. Becerra-Rodriguez and Denis A. Cabrera-Munguía; Supervision: Jesús A. Claudio-Rizo and Martin Caldera-Villalobos.

Acknowledgments

M.C.V. thanks CONACyT for the postdoctoral grant.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

Available upon request.

Additional information

Funding

The authors thank to Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT) for the financial support (grant FORDECYT-PRONACES/6660/2020).