Adhesive polyethylene glycol-based hydrogel patch for tissue repair

Polyethylene glycol (PEG)-based tissue glue has been widely used in surgery, but the sealants were weak in strength and could not be in place of sutures. This paper prepared a PEG-based tissue patch made of F127-DA hydrogel and PEG-DA as adhesive. For the patch adhesion on tissues, photoinitiator of lithium phenyl-2,4,6-trimethylbenzoylphosphinate (LAP, 0.1 % w/v) and UV flashlight at 395 nm for 30 s irradiation was used. The adhesion energy on pig skin, lung, heart, liver, kidney and stomach was 85.33, 56.40, 75.56, 70.22, 66.67 and 36.89 N/m, indicating the well stitching to different tissues. The hydrogel patch could also seal the punched tissues to prevent the leakage of liquid or air. Finally, the patch showed good tissue compatibility after 2 days adhesion on pig skin. In this regard, the hydrogel patch is expected to repair the wounded tissues without suture, being a biocompatible adhesive for wound healing of various tissues.