Porous hydrogels based on itaconic anhydride modified collagen/HEMA for skin tissue engineering

Porous scaffolds for skin tissue engineering were fabricated by radical copolymerization of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and collagen (Coll) modified with itaconic anhydride (ITA). In order to participate in copolymerization reactions with the acrylic monomer, mono-itacon-amide functional groups were added to the native collagen macromolecules. Ammonium persulfate (APS) and N,N,N´,N´-tetramethylethylene diamine (TEMED) were used as a redox initiator system. Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to study the structure of the obtained hydrogels and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) data confirmed the homogeneous pore distribution of the new modified collagen (CIT) and the interconnected porous structure of the developed hydrogels. The biopolymer/monomer ratio has a considerably effect on the cross-section morphology of the matrices. The hemostatic properties of the matrices were studied.