Development of Bacterial Cellulose-Hyaluronic Acid Multicomponent Hydrogels via Click Chemistry for Biomedical Applications

The cross-linking of bacterial cellulose (BC), hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), and hyaluronic acid (HA) accomplished with the Copper (I) catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition (CuAAC) click reaction was investigated to obtain the multicomponent hydrogels that allow selective control of material properties. Click chemistry is one of many design methodologies that can be used to create hydrogels for multi-component systems. BC, HPMC, and HA are the most preferred and suitable natural polymers for tissue engineering studies. However, in order to combine their properties in a synergistic way, they must be functionalized to interact with each other. In this study, azide-functional HA was achieved by the reaction of hyaluronic acid with 1-azido-2,3-epoxypropane. To obtain multicomponent hydrogel alkyne-terminated cellulose is also prepared. The cellulose and hyaluronic acid functionalization was confirmed by using FTIR and NMR analysis. The crosslinking reaction took place at ambient conditions for 24 h. It was observed that the swelling capacity of the multi-component hydrogel declined with the increasing amount of BC due to its high crosslinking degree. In addition, the porous morphology of hydrogels makes them suitable for wound dressing applications. SEM results revealed that pore size and porosity decreased with increasing BC concentration. MTT assay demonstrated that the hydrogels promote cell proliferation and adhesion for 3T3 cells. In vitro cell culturing within the hydrogel demonstrated good cell spreading.