Preparation and characterization of glycol chitin as a new thermogelling polymer for biomedical applications

In this study, a new thermo-sensitive polymer, glycol chitin, was synthesized by controlled N-acetylation of glycol chitosan and evaluated as a thermogelling system. The physico-chemical properties of glycol chitins with different degrees of acetylation (DA) were investigated in terms of degradation, cytotoxicity, rheological properties, and in vitro and in vivo gel formation. Aqueous solutions of glycol chitins were flowable freely at room temperature but quickly became a durable gel at body temperature. Thermo-reversible sol-gel transition properties were observed with fast gelation kinetics. Glycol chitins with higher DA showed faster degradation in the presence of lysozyme. They exhibited no significant biological toxicity against human cell lines. An anti-cancer drug, doxorubicin, could be incorporated into the hydrogel by a simple mixing process and released in a sustained pattern over 13 days. Our findings suggest that glycol chitins could be useful as a new thermogelling biomaterial for drug delivery and injectable tissue engineering.