(379g) Electroadhesion of Polyelectrolyte Hydrogels to Animal Tissues: A Simple Way to Reseal Cut or Damaged Tissues without Sutures

This work will present studies from our lab on the electrically induced adhesion of hydrogels made from polyelectrolytes to animal tissues. The basic phenomenon involves two non-sticky crosslinked acrylate hydrogels made with either anionic co-monomers (such as sodium acrylate) or cationic co-monomers (such as aminated acrylates). When a rectangular strip of a cationic gel (connected to an anode) is contacted for just a few seconds with a strip of anionic gel (connected to a cathode) under a voltage of ~ 10 V, the two gel strips form a strong adhesive bond. When the polarity of the electrodes is reversed, the phenomenon is reversed, i.e., the gels can be easily detached.

While the above phenomenon of ‘electro-adhesion’ has been reported before for hydrogels, here we demonstrate electroadhesion in a new scenario – between cationic gels and certain animal (bovine) tissues, such as aorta, cornea, lung, cartilage, muscle, tendon and intestine tissues. When a cationic gel is contacted with a piece of tissue and an electric field (DC, 10 V) is applied for 20 s with a specific polarity, the gel becomes strongly adhered to the tissue. The adhesion persists indefinitely after the field is turned off. If the polarity is reversed, the adhesion is eliminated, and the two materials can be separated. Only cationic gels can be electroadhered to tissues, which suggests that the tissues have anionic character. In both cases of gel to gel adhesion and gel to tissue adhesion, an electroadhered gel patch provide a robust seal, allowing fluid to flow right through the lumen of a gel or tissue tube. These studies raise the possibility of using electroadhesion in surgery as either as a primary means of tissue repair or as an adjunct to suture repair. The advantages of this technique are the ability to achieve adhesion on command using an electric field, and moreover the ability to reverse the adhesion in case of an error.