Robust super-structured porous hydrogel enables bioadaptive repair of dynamic soft tissue

Well-orchestrated integration of multiple contradictory properties into a single material is crucial for dynamic soft tissue defect repair but remains challenging. Bioinspired by diaphragm, we have successfully developed a robust super-structured porous hydrogel with anisotropic skeleton and asymmetric porous surfaces via integrated molding. Thanks to synergistic toughening of anisotropic structure and Hofmeister effect of amino acid, our hydrogel achieves high tensile strength (22.2 MPa) and elastic modulus (32.4 MPa) for strong mechanical support, while maintaining excellent toughness (61.9 MJ m<sup>-3</sup>) and fatigue threshold (5.6 kJ m<sup>-2</sup>) against dynamic stretching during the early healing phase. The mechanical properties of hydrogel gradually decrease during the late healing phase, minimizing its restriction on physiological movements. In addition, diaphragm defect repair models on female rabbits demonstrate asymmetric porous surfaces can simultaneously prevent visceral adhesion and promote defect healing. Therefore, our hydrogel opens an attractive avenue for the construction of biomimetically hierarchical materials to address the stringent requirements of dynamic tissue defect repair.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2025-04-03
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58062-4
Citations
21
Primary Topic
Bone Tissue Engineering Materials
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
14.16
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article

Robust super-structured porous hydrogel enables bioadaptive repair of dynamic soft tissue

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21 citations
Nature Communications
Bone Tissue Engineering Materials
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article

Robust super-structured porous hydrogel enables bioadaptive repair of dynamic soft tissue

Luna Quan, Dingcai Wu, Ruoxu Dou, Youchen Tang, Weiwen Liang, Siqi He, Rongkang Huang, Runxian Wang, Yang Ouyang, Jinquan Zhang
article en
21 citations

Abstract

Well-orchestrated integration of multiple contradictory properties into a single material is crucial for dynamic soft tissue defect repair but remains challenging. Bioinspired by diaphragm, we have successfully developed a robust super-structured porous hydrogel with anisotropic skeleton and asymmetric porous surfaces via integrated molding. Thanks to synergistic toughening of anisotropic structure and Hofmeister effect of amino acid, our hydrogel achieves high tensile strength (22.2 MPa) and elastic modulus (32.4 MPa) for strong mechanical support, while maintaining excellent toughness (61.9 MJ m<sup>-3</sup>) and fatigue threshold (5.6 kJ m<sup>-2</sup>) against dynamic stretching during the early healing phase. The mechanical properties of hydrogel gradually decrease during the late healing phase, minimizing its restriction on physiological movements. In addition, diaphragm defect repair models on female rabbits demonstrate asymmetric porous surfaces can simultaneously prevent visceral adhesion and promote defect healing. Therefore, our hydrogel opens an attractive avenue for the construction of biomimetically hierarchical materials to address the stringent requirements of dynamic tissue defect repair.

Nature CommunicationsVol. 16(1)
Sun Yat-sen University (CN), Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University (CN), Ministry of Education (IR), Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University (CN), Ministry of Education (BD), Eighth Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Bone Tissue Engineering Materials
14.16
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