Crosslinked hydrogels based on biological macromolecules with potential use in skin tissue engineering

• A new type of hydrogel has been obtained by carbodiimide cross-linking.
• Micro DSC studies confirmed that the hydrogels have been successfully crosslinked.
• The physico-chemical characteristics of the hydrogels have been evaluated.
• The addition of the sericin enhanced the hydrogels biocompatibility.

Zero-length crosslinked hydrogels have been synthesized by covalent linking of three natural polymers (collagen, hyaluronic acid and sericin), in the presence of 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide and N-hydroxysuccinimide. The hydrogels have been investigated by FT-IR spectroscopy, microcalorimetry, in vitro swelling, enzymatic degradation, and in vitro cell viability studies. The obtained crosslinked hydrogels showed a macroporous structure, high swelling degree and in vitro enzymatic resistance compared to uncrosslinked collagen. The in vitro cell viability studies performed on normal human dermal fibroblasts assessed the sericin proliferation properties indicating a potential use of the hydrogels based on collagen, hyaluronic acid and sericin in skin tissue engineering.

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