Muscle-like fatigue-resistant hydrogels by mechanical training.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Biomaterials Engineering
• Polymer Science

Background:

• Skeletal muscles exhibit unique properties: high fatigue resistance, strength, low Young's modulus, and high water content.
• These muscle-like properties are crucial for synthetic hydrogels in load-bearing artificial tissues and soft devices.
• Current synthetic hydrogels struggle to replicate this combination of properties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a strategy for achieving muscle-like properties in synthetic hydrogels.
• To create aligned nanofibrillar architectures mimicking skeletal muscle structure.
• To enhance hydrogel performance for tissue engineering and soft robotics applications.

Main Methods:

• Employed a mechanical training strategy to induce nanofibril alignment in synthetic hydrogels.
• Utilized in situ confocal microscopy to observe hydrogel fracturing processes.
• Investigated the role of aligned nanofibrils in fatigue resistance without chemical additives.

Main Results:

• Achieved combinational muscle-like properties in synthetic hydrogels through mechanical training.
• Demonstrated that aligned nanofibrils enhance fatigue resistance by pinning cracks.
• Successfully applied the strategy to 3D-printed hydrogel microstructures, yielding isotropic properties.

Conclusions:

• Mechanical training is an effective method for creating advanced hydrogels with muscle-like characteristics.
• The aligned nanofibrillar architecture is key to enhanced fatigue resistance and mechanical strength.
• This approach offers a promising pathway for developing high-performance biomaterials for various applications.