Microwave‐Assisted Fabrication of Peptide Incorporated Gelatin/Hyaluronic Acid Bioactive Microhydrogels

ABSTRACT Among various hydrogels, injectable microhydrogels offering adaptable drug delivery of biological components hold promise in the cosmetic industry and regenerative medicine. This paper introduces an effective method to form a bioactive and biomimetic microhydrogel system with injectability. In this study, we incorporated palmitoyl tripeptide‐5 as a bioactive peptide into a gelatin/hyaluronic acid microhydrogel system and chemically crosslinked it with genipin under microwave energy to create injectable and bioactive composite microhydrogels. A rapid and efficient crosslinking approach for gelatin–palmitoyl tripeptide‐5/hyaluronic acid‐based microhydrogels was established using 640 W microwave irradiation for 6 min. ATR‐FTIR spectroscopy confirmed the successful crosslinking of the microhydrogels with genipin when subjected to microwave irradiation. Rheological evaluations demonstrated that the microhydrogels exhibit viscoelastic behavior and shear‐thinning characteristics, attributes that contribute to their injectability. Biodegradation and swelling studies revealed that the microhydrogels exhibit considerable mechanical stability under physiological conditions, accompanied by favorable swelling behavior. Morphological characterization showed that the emulsion‐based synthesis yielded microhydrogels with a well‐defined microspherical structure. The results of this study indicate that the biofunctionalized microhydrogels exhibit viscoelasticity, shear‐thinning behavior, and mechanical stability under physiological conditions, highlighting their potential applicability as platforms for drug delivery or as scaffolds in tissue engineering.