Robust, highly elastic and bioactive heparin-mimetic hydrogelsElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Materials, experimental details, AFM, FTIR, TGA, weight compositions of hydrogels, cross-section SEM images, and compressive modulus of different hydrogels, clotting time test, protein adsorption, and cell proliferation of hydrogels. See DOI: 10.1039/c5py01377a

• Main Authors: He, Chao, Cheng, Chong, Ji, Hai-Feng, Shi, Zhen-Qiang, Ma, Lang, Zhou, Mi, Zhao, Chang-Sheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1759-9954; 1759-9962
• DOI: 10.1039/c5py01377a

In this study, we report the rapid synthesis of robust, highly elastic and bioactive heparin-mimetic hydrogels by combining free radical polymerization with doped graphene oxide (GO) as the micro-crosslinker. In the hydrogel system, GO is covalently connected or bonded to the heparin-mimetic polymer networks since the initiated macromolecular radicals can attach to the double bonds of GO. As a result, the GO doped heparin-mimetic hydrogels reveal highly interpenetrating networks with increased small pores, thinner pore walls, and a narrow pore size distribution compared to pristine heparin-mimetic hydrogels. Meanwhile, the GO doped heparin-mimetic hydrogels can also sustain cyclic compressions with extremely high strain due to the reinforced mechanical strength and elastic properties. Furthermore, all of the heparin-mimetic hydrogels show excellent endothelial cell compatibility, and doping with GO can further improve the cell viability and promote the generation of actin filaments and extracellular matrix. Moreover, the heparin-mimetic hydrogels also show a high drug loading ability and a persistent releasing ability, thus exhibiting sustained antitumor cell activity; doping with GO can help achieve more slow doxorubicin (DOX) release and better anti-cancer efficiency than the pristine hydrogel. Combined with the excellent properties mentioned above, we believe that the synthesized GO doped heparin-mimetic hydrogels will have great potential for application in various biomedical fields, such as tissue engineering and implantable drug delivery systems. We construct robust, highly elastic, and bioactive graphene oxide doped heparin-mimetic hydrogels for use in drug delivery and other potential biomedical applications.