In Vitro Evaluation of Biocompatibility for Injectable Poly (ε-caprolactone)-Pluronic F127 (PCL-Pluronic) Hydrogel

Thermosensitive hydrogels based on synthetic block copolymers have gained increasing attention due to their in-situ forming characteristics for various applications including controlled drug delivery, cell encapsulation and tissue regeneration. In this study, a series of biodegradable hydrogels which are the block Poly (epsilon-caprolactone)-Pluronic F127 (PCL-Pluronic) copolymers were synthesized by ring-opening polymerization, and were characterized by H-1 NMR, FTIR, GPC, and TA-DSC. Sol-gel phase transition diagrams were recorded using test tube inverting method. Temperature dependent sol-gel phase transition depended on hydrophilic/hydrophobic balance in macromolecular structure. The biocompatibility of these hydrogels was evaluated using cytotoxicity assays with human amniotic fluid stem cells. The properties of the PCL-Pluronic hydrogels demonstrated to be thermosensitive, biodegradable and biocompatible, which would enable the application of cell therapy and tissue regeneration.