Tertiary blends of PAMAM/PEG/PEG tissue bioadhesives

Abstract

Lack of wet adhesion and biomechanical mismatch at tissue interfaces are the major challenges related to surgical adhesive formulations. Carbene-based bioadhesives seek to address those limitations, due to their ability to covalently bond to wet tissue surfaces. Herein, diazirine-grafted polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers (PDz) dissolved in various liquid polyethylene glycols (PEG) are reported. Non-aqueous liquid PEG 400 reinforced with high molecular weight PEGs (2 kDa, 6 kDA and 10 kDa) dissolved PDz to form tertiary blends for optimization of viscosity and shear storage modulus. Dynamic photorheometry correlated PEG molar mass and tertiary ratios to adhesion strength, swelling-in-water profile and potential weight loss in aqueous medium. Tertiary blended adhesives demonstrate an improvement in elongation and adhesion strength compared to the binary blends used as control.