Synthesis and characterization of lanthanum bonded agar-carbomer hydrogel: a promising tool for biomedical research

Agar-Carbomer (branched poly (acrylic acid)) hydrogel, an injectable bio-resorbable scaffold with a controlled nanostructure specifically designed for neural cell housing, was developed together with a new protocol for building three dimensional biohybrid cell/hydrogel systems. In order to overcome classic structural analysis inconveniences due to the high water amount, which affects instruments results and reliability, agar-Carbomer hydrogels were synthesized by microwave-assisted block copolymerization together with La3+ salts. Propylene glycol, glycerol and buffered saline solution were used as cross-linking agents and solvent, respectively. Biomaterial properties were not affected by the presence of lanthanum, and were checked via swelling and rheological analysis. Moreover, the presence of La3+ within the polymeric network was characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, environmental scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy. The results showed that the rare earth presented uniform distribution in the hydrogel network due to the formation of chemical bonds after polymerization without being modified its luminescence emission spectrum that allowed hydrogel detection. These results made the obtained host-guest system a useful tool for analytical research studies concerning regenerative medical applications that could also be potentially taken up with in vivo experiments.