Engineering the mechanical and X-ray attenuation properties of gelatine composite hydrogels with a potential for tissue mimicking materials

Abstract The ability to engineer the properties of gelatine composite hydrogels with low-budget fillers, as potential tissue-mimicking materials in computed tomography, CT, is demonstrated. Composites with different distilled water/glycerol ratios, gelatine concentration of 0.08 g/ml and two fillers (collagen and eggshells powder, 0.08 g/ml) were prepared. Hounsfield units were measured as a function of the tube voltage and compared to biological tissues. The mechanical performance was also investigated. The results indicate that the composites successfully mimic liver, heart and muscle tissues in CT as well as trabecular bones. The mechanical performance allows the use of all composites as free standing tissue mimicking materials and they show a potential to be used as multimodal materials in CT and Ultrasound elastography for heart tissue replacement.