Novel hydrogels based on carboxyl pullulan and collagen crosslinking with 1, 4-butanediol diglycidylether for use as a dermal filler: initial in vitro and in vivo investigations.

Novel hydrogels based on carboxyl pullulan (PC) and human-like collagen (HLC) crosslinking with 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether (BDDE) are promising soft fillers for tissue engineering due to their highly tunable properties. Recent studies, however, have shown that incorporating hyaluronic acid and BDDE results in hydrogels with a microporous structure, a large pore size and high porosity, which reduce cell adhesion and enhance degradation in vivo. To improve biocompatibility and prevent biodegradation, the use of PC to replace hyaluronic acid in the fabrication of PC/BDDE (PCB) and PC/BDDE/HLC (PCBH) hydrogels was investigated. Preparation of gels with PC is a promising strategy due to the high reactivity, superb selectivity, and mild reaction conditions of PC. In particular, the Schiff base reaction of HLC and PC produces the novel functional group -RCONHR' in PCBH hydrogels. Twenty-four weeks after subcutaneous injection of either PCB or PCBH hydrogel in mice, the surrounding tissue inflammation, enzymatic response and cell attachment were better compared to hyaluronic acid-based hydrogels. However, the biocompatibility, cytocompatibility and non-biodegradability of PCBH were milder than those of the PCB hydrogels both in vivo and in vitro. These results show that the proposed use of PC and HLC for the fabrication of hydrogels is a promising strategy for generating soft filler for tissue engineering.