Abstract
Biodegradable hydrogels consisting of oligopeptide-terminated poly (ethylene glycol) (oligopeptide-PEG) and dextran (Dex) with interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) structure were designed as novel biomaterials exhibiting a double stimuli-responsive function. IPN-structured hydrogels were synthesized by sequential crosslinking reactions of N-methacryloyl-glycilglycilglycil-terminated PEG and Dex. Specific degradation in the presence of papain and dextranase was observed in the IPN-structured hydrogel with a particular composition of oligopeptide-PEG and Dex whereas this hydrogel was not degraded by one of the two enzymes. Therefore, it is concluded that double stimuli-responsive degradation was achieved by the design of IPN-structured hydrogels composed of two chemically different biodegradable hydrophilic polymers. Such characteristic of double stimuli-responsive degradation in IPN-structured hydrogels can be useful as a fail-safe mechanism for medical functions in guaranteed drug delivery and/or medical micromachines.
