Thermoplastic hydrogels

Pereira CS, Cunha AM, Reis RL, New starch-based thermoplastic hydrogels for use as bone cements or drug-dehvery carriers. J Mater Sci Mater Med, 1998, 9, 825-33. 

Cho, C.-S., Jeong, Y.-I., Kim, S.-H. etal. (2000) Thermoplastic hydrogel based on hexablock copolymer composed of poly(gamma-benzyl L-glutamate) and poly(ethylene oxide). Polymer, 41,5185 5193. 

D Bio-plotting Thermoplastics, hydrogels, ceramics 150x150x140 0.1 2001 >150000 Low/medium... 

Fig. 5. Scanning electron micrographs of hoUow fiber dialysis membranes. Membranes in left panels are prepared from regenerated cellulose (Cuprophan) and those on the right from a copolymer of polyacrylonitrile. The ceUulosic materials are hydrogels and the synthetic thermoplastic forms a microreticulated open cell foam with a tight skin on the inner wall. Pictures at top are membrane cross sections those below are of the wall region. Dimensions as indicated.

Wright E.R., McMillan R., Andrew C.A., Apkarian, R.P., and Conticello, V.P. Thermoplastic elastomer hydrogels via self-assembly of an elastin-mimetic triblock polypeptide, Adv. Func. Mater., 12, 149, 2002. 

Nagapudi K., Brinkman W.T., Leisen, J., Thomas B.S., Wright E.R., HaUer C., Wu X., Apkarian R.P., ConticeUo V.P., and Chaikof EU. Protein-based thermoplastic elastomers. Macromolecules, 38, 345, 2005. Petka W.A., Hardin J.L., McGrath K.P., Wirtz D., and TirreU, D.A. Reversible hydrogels from self-assembUng artificial proteins. Science, 281, 389, 1998. 

Another, promising avenue to understand silk protein conformation and assembly is the use of model peptides. Although not recent (Fraser and MacRae, 1973 Lotz et al., 1974), studies of silk-based peptide from chemical synthesis, DNA recombinant technology, and computer simulation (Anderson et al., 1994 Asakura et al., 2003 Fahnestock et al., 2000 Fossey et al., 1991 Heslot, 1998 Kaplan, 1998 Wilson et al., 2000) have shown that selected repeats of silk proteins can be transformable hydrogels, elastomers, or regular thermoplastics and that with a proper design they can function as diverse molecular machines (Altman et al., 2003 Heslot, 1998 Kaplan, 1998 Urry, 1998). 

As a result of these important properties, different blends have been studied thermoplastics or thermosets with silicone, hydrogel/silicones. These materials can be more or less efficiently produced thanks to the choice of routes simple and compatibilized blends, as well as IPNs. 

Table 1. Preparation and characterization of some thermoplastic methacrylate based hydrogel...

HydroThane, Thermoplastic, elastomeric hydrogel, CT Biomaterials, Div. of Cardio-Tech Int. 

Polymers were the first type of materials to be studied for cell immunoisolation purposes. They can be separated in two classes hydrogels (Nafea et al. 2011) (alginates, agarose, polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene glycol, etc.) and thermoplastics (Li 1998) (polyurethane, polysulfone,... 

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