Modulating carboxymethylcellulose-based hydrogels with superior mechanical and rheological properties for future biomedical applications

Herein, a grafted copolymer composed of carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) and polyethylene-glycol-aminated (PEG-NH 2 ) was successfully synthesized via a facile ionic interaction and scalable route in the presence of EDC/NHS (Nethyl-N′-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide/N-hydroxysuccinimide) activators.From Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, the absorption peak at 1652 cm -1 corresponded to -NH groups of PEG-NH 2 .After grafting, the grafted CMC-PEG was characterized for surface morphology, crystallinity, functional groups determination, and thermal analysis.No cytotoxicity effect was observed in normal human dermal fibroblasts (NHDFs) cells following exposure to the grafted CMC-PEG up to 2 mg/ml.The rheological studies suggested that the optimized 10% (w/v) grafted CMC-PEG hydrogels crosslinked with 5% (w/v) citric acid (CA) exhibited better mechanical properties compared to the non-grafted CMC.This work highlights the characterizations of grafted CMC-PEG and demonstrates the potential of grafted CMC-PEG hydrogels crosslinked with CA for advanced 3D-bioprinting or as injectable hydrogels in various biomedical applications such as tissue engineering, wound dressing materials, and drug delivery systems.