Within the articular joints of mammals biomacromolecules acting as boundary lubricants, and featuring a highly branched structure provide very low friction at the cartilage surface, and prevent the occurrence of wear over decades. During degenerative diseases, such as osteoarthritis (OA), the depletion of these components within the synovial fluid accompanies a progressive increment in friction and wear, which ultimately lead to irreversible tissue degradation.<br/>Inspired by the structure and properties of natural biolubricants, we have designed graft-copolymers capable of binding to the degraded tissue during the early stages of OA, protect it from the surrounding environment, and re-establish its lubrication properties. These feature functional polymer “backbones”, which selectively anchors to the damaged tissue, and poly(2-alkyl-2-oxazoline) (PAOXA) side chains, which form a biopassive a lubricious polymer brush" interface. A systematic tuning of the molar mass, density and chain-topology of PAOXA grafts enable to reproduce the low coefficient of friction characteristic of the healthy cartilage, protect the degraded tissue from enzymatic degradation, and prevent further damage. All these attractive properties, combined with their high biocompatibility, make PAOXA-based graft-copolymers promising candidates for the development of treatments to halt or slow down cartilage degeneration.<br/>

Chemical and topological design of biomimetic graft-copolymers for cartilage lubrication

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.