Researchers have developed a composite double-network hydrogel that adheres to soft tissues such as cartilage and the meniscus, according to an article in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
The biocompatible hydrogel is nearly 90 percent water and designed to withstand mechanical stresses and deformation to eliminate the need for a separate binding process.
“Our hydrogel is ten times more adhesive than currently available bioadhesives on the market such as fibrin,” said Dominique Pioletti, PhD, the head of the biomechanical orthopedics laboratory at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland. “Our hydrogel is very similar in nature to the natural tissue it’s designed to heal.”
Researchers hope the hydrogel might be used in place of metallic materials such as titanium to set bone fractures. A more immediate application is eliminating the need for complex sutures on some types of soft tissue.