An Instant Underwater Tissue Adhesive Composed of Catechin-Chondroitin Sulfate and Cholesterol-Polyethyleneimine.

Due to the safety issue and poor underwater adhesion of current commercially available bioadhesives, they are hard to apply to in vivo physiological environments and more diverse medical use conditions. In this study, a novel and facile bioadhesive for underwater medical applications was  designed based on the coacervation of electrostatic interactions and hydrophobic interactions, with the introduction of catechin (CC) as providers of catechol moieties for adhesion to surrounding tissues. The orange-colored bio-adhesive, named PcC, was  generated within seconds by mixing catechin-modified chondroitin sulfate (CSCC) and cholesterol chloroformate-modified polyethyleneimine (PEI-Chol) with agitation. In vitro mechanical measurements proved that this novel PcC bio-adhesive was  superior in underwater adhesion performance when applied to cartilage. Animal experiments in rat mastectomy model and rat cartilage graft implantation model have demonstrated its potential for diverse medical purposes, such as closing surgical incisions, reducing the formation of seroma, and tissue adhesive applied in orthopedic or cartilage surgery. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.