A Hyaluronic Acid Based Injectable Hydrogel Formed via Photo-Crosslinking Reaction and Thermal-Induced Diels-Alder Reaction for Cartilage Tissue Engineering

A hyaluronic acid (HA) based injectable hydrogel with gradually increasing mechanical properties was synthesized via photo-crosslinking reaction and thermal-induced Diels-Alder (DA) reaction. The injectable hydrogel can quickly gelate within 30 s by photo-crosslinking of HA-furan under the catalysis of lithium phenyl-2,4,6-trimethylbenzoylphosphinate (LAP). This injectable property is beneficial to keep the encapsulated cell activity and convenient for clinical operation. And the mechanical properties can be control from 4.86 to 10.66 kPa by exposure time. Then, the thermal-induced DA click chemistry further occurs between furan groups and maleimide groups which gradually promoted the crosslinking density of the injectable hydrogel. The mechanical properties of the injectable hydrogel can be promoted to 21 kPa. ATDC-5 cells were successfully encapsulated in the injectable hydrogel and showed good activity. All the results suggested that the injectable hydrogel with gradually increasing mechanical properties formed by photo-crosslinking reaction and thermal-induced DA reaction has a good prospect of application in cartilage tissue engineering.