Polymer compositions of dihydroxyacetone and uses thereof
The present disclosure provides injectable synthetic and biodegradable polymeric biomaterials that effectively prevent seroma, a common postoperative complication following ablative and reconstructive surgeries. Provided biomaterials include physically crosslinked hydrogels that are thixotropic, display rapid chain relaxation, are easily extruded through narrow gauge needles, biodegrade into inert products, are well tolerated by soft tissues, and effectively prevent seroma in a radical breast mastectomy animal model.
1. A hydrogel having a physically entangled network of poly(ethylene glycol)/poly-dihydroxyacetone (PEG-pDHA) copolymer, wherein the (PEG-pDHA) copolymer is a block copolymer comprising a PEG block, wherein the PEG block is branched.
2. The hydrogel of claim 1 , wherein the (PEG-pDHA) copolymer is thixotropic.
3. A copolymer comprising DHA and glycerol.
4. The copolymer of claim 3 , comprising a first block of PEG; and a second block of polymer comprising DHA and glycerol.
5. The copolymer of claim 3 , comprising DHA, glycerol, and PEG.
6. A hydrogel having a physically entangled network of poly(ethylene glycol)/poly-dihydroxyacetone (PEG-pDHA) copolymer, wherein the (PEG-pDHA) copolymer is a random copolymer.
7. The hydrogel of claim 1 , wherein the (PEG-pDHA) copolymer is a PEG-pDHA diblock copolymer comprising a PEG block and a pDHA block.
8. The hydrogel of claim 7 , wherein the M w of the PEG block of the PEG-pDHA diblock copolymer is from 100 to 1,000,000 daltons.
9. The hydrogel of claim 8 , wherein the M w of the PEG block of the PEG-pDHA diblock copolymer is from 100 to 10,000 daltons.
10. The hydrogel of claim 7 , wherein the M w of the pDHA block of the PEG-pDHA diblock copolymer is from 100 to 1,000,000 daltons.
11. The hydrogel of claim 10 , wherein the M w of the pDHA block of the PEG-pDHA diblock copolymer is from 1,000 to 10,000 daltons.
12. The hydrogel of claim 11 , wherein the M w of the pDHA block of the PEG-pDHA diblock copolymer is from 2,500 to 3,500 daltons.
13. The hydrogel of claim 1 , wherein the branched PEG block comprises 3 to 50 PEG chains emanating from a central core group.
14. The hydrogel of claim 1 , wherein the PEG block is a comb PEG.
15. The hydrogel of claim 1 , wherein the PEG block is a star PEG.
16. The hydrogel of claim 15 , wherein the star PEG comprises 3 to 200 PEG chains emanating from a central core group.
17. A hydrogel having a physically entangled network of poly(ethylene glycol)/poly-dihydroxyacetone (PEG-pDHA) copolymer, wherein the (PEG-pDHA) copolymer is a PEG-pDHA diblock copolymer comprising a PEG block, wherein the PEG block is terminated with an organic group selected from the group consisting of carbohydrates, proteins, and peptides.
18. The copolymer of claim 3 , wherein the copolymer is a block copolymer.
19. The copolymer of claim 3 , wherein the copolymer is a random copolymer.
20. The copolymer of claim 4 , wherein the second block is a block copolymer.
21. The copolymer of claim 4 , wherein the second block is a random copolymer.