Hello,
I am a novice researcher and I am working on and interested in hydrogel materials.
I am currently doing research on sodium alginate based hydrogels crosslinked with e.g. calcium, copper or barium at different concentrations.
I have observed that sodium alginate-based hydrogels degrade very quickly in artificial urine and lose their mechanical properties after just one hour of immersion in solution. Are there any more experienced researchers here who can give me advice on how to increase the degradation time of sodium alginate based hydrogel in artificial urine?
Dear Jagoda Kurowiak, please take a look at the following study. My Regards
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339788170_Analysis_of_the_Degradation_Process_of_Alginate-Based_Hydrogels_in_Artificial_Urine_for_Use_as_a_Bioresorbable_Material_in_the_Treatment_of_Urethral_Injuries
Hi Abdelkader,
To accelerate biodegradation rate, you may consider to use inorganic fillers such as calcium carbonate or zeolite carrier certain types of bacterial.
But the question is about to increase degradation time, i.e., stability for prolonged time and not to accelerate degradation.
Hi;
I think that hybrid cross-linking with a mixture of two cross-linking agents such as calcium chloride and barium chloride could extend the degradation time of alginate in urine. Please check the following document:
With my best regards
Most of my research work is to increase biodegradation rate for the bio-polymers. In case to increase degradation time, you may thinking about chemical stabilizer agent to increase crosslinking and control chain stabilities.
Thank you all for your responses.
Exactly, I am concerned with increasing the degradation time. That is, increasing the stability of the alginate hydrogel structure after contact with artificial urine solution. I suppose the problem is in the chemical bonds and their rapid replacement. I am looking for what can block this and slow down the degradation process or loss of mechanical properties of this hydrogel.
Have you tried DTC (dithiocarbamylation), because of it the products are safe from any kind of microbial activities and the duration of degradation can be easily increased.
Hello Jagoda,
I believe that prior to any further investigation, you need to know if the hydrogel is truly degrading or it is just a de-crosslinking. I recommend performing a MALDI analysis to your incubation medium vs immersion time. Afterwards, 1- if it is a true degradation of the polymeric chains (due to the acidic medium), you may: reduce the acidity of the artificial urine, lower the analysis temperature, and maybe increase the crosslink density to reduce the ability of urine to interact with the internal polymer chains. 2 -if it is a de-crosslinking, you may change the crosslinking agent….....
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