Tianzhu Zhang
Southeast University, China
Title: Mussel-inspired copolymer grafted polypropylene mesh for rat abdominal wall defect repair
Biography
Biography: Tianzhu Zhang
Abstract
In hernia repair, polypropylene (PP) mesh is one of the most common prosthetic materials because it leads to successful long-term treatment. However, when a prosthetic material is placed on an intraperitoneal hernia, it may lead to serious adhesions between the mesh and viscera, which limits its application. In the present study, dopamine methacrylamide (DMA), a derivative of dopamine, was polymerized and then reacted with polyethylene glycol methacrylate (PEGMA) to produce poly(polyethylene glycol methacrylate-co-dopamine methacrylamide) (p(PEGMA-co-DMA)) using traditional free radical polymerization. It was grafted in situ on the PP mesh’s surface utilizing the dopamine catechol group to obtain an anti-adhesive PP mesh. The structure and properties of the p(PEGMA-co-DMA) graft were characterized by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC), Attenuated Total Reflection Flourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA), water contact angle measurements and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). NIH-3T3 cells were employed to assess anti-adhesion and biocompatibility in vitro. Moreover, the efficacy of the p(PEGMA-co-DMA)-coating as a barrier for reducing post-surgical adhesions was evaluated with a rat abdominal wall defect model. Compared with the native PP mesh, the p(PEGMA-co-DMA)-grafted PP mesh demonstrated excellent anti-adhesion and biocompatibility properties both in vitro and in vivo testing. The results suggest that this kind of p(PEGMA-co-DMA)-grafted PP mesh is a promising candidate for abdominal wall defect repair.