The Effect of Mixing on the Mechanical Properties of Hyaluronan-Based Injectable Hydrogels

A method for determining the correlation between the mixing of two reactive polymers and the structural and mechanical properties of the formed hydrogels is presented. Rheological measurements show that insufficient mixing gives rise to soft and not fully crosslinked hydrogels while excessive mixing beyond gel point results in weaker hydrogels due to potential breakage of their 3D network. Furthermore, the hydrogels swell significantly more in cell culture medium than in phosphate-buffered saline, attributed to interactions with additional molecules such as proteins. Thus, moderate mixing gives rise to the most homogenous and mechanically stable hydrogels and the choice of medium e. g., for release experiments, should be consistent in order to avoid unnecessary variations in the data caused by different swelling profiles.