Succinoglycan dialdehyde-reinforced gelatin hydrogels with toughness and thermal stability

Pure gelatin hydrogel (PG) has limited practical applications due to their thermal instability and unfavorable mechanical properties. To overcome these limitations, dually crosslinked hydrogels were developed by imparting chemical crosslinking to existing physically crosslinked gelatin hydrogel networks using succinoglycan dialdehyde (SGDA) as a macromolecular crosslinker. SGDA-reinforced gelatin hydrogels (SGDA/Gels) displayed an 11 times higher compressive stress under identical deformation strain and a 1040% improvement in storage modulus (G') than PG. In addition, chemical crosslinking induced by SGDA increased the thermal stability of SGDA/Gels, such that they did not decompose at 60 °C, as confirmed by oscillatory temperature ramp experiments. The newly synthesized SGDA/Gels with reinforced networks and thermal stability exhibit potential for long-term use as controlled drug delivery carriers and 3D cell culture scaffolds for tissue engineering.