Injectable and self-fused hydrogels with antifouling capability based on amino acid derivatives for postoperative anti-adhesion application

The design and fabrication of injectable barriers with promising antifouling capability to prevent the formation of adhesions after surgery remains challenging. Herein, we introduce amino acid derivative with hydroxyl group (N-acryloyl serine (ASer)) into the preparation of hydrogels to develop a novel hydrogen bond-crosslinked hydrogel (PASer) by free radical polymerization. It is found that one substituted methyl group can cause considerable disruption to the hydrogen bonding interaction and result in increased initial gelling concentration and significant decrease in the mechanical properties of poly(N-acryloyl threonine) (PAThr) hydrogel compared with PASer hydrogel. Moreover, it is worth noting that the hydrophilic hydroxyl groups enable PASer hydrogel to efficiently resist protein adsorption and cell adhesion. The PASer hydrogel possesses excellent mechanical performance, injectability, self-fusion, good biocompatibility and appropriate in vivo residence time, which are consistent with the requirements of postoperative anti-adhesion materials in clinical practice. In vivo studies reveal that the advanced hydrogel shows satisfactory preventive effect on postoperative peritoneal adhesions in the established mice abdominal wall defect model.