Injectable and Glucose-Responsive Hydrogels Based on Boronic Acid–Glucose Complexation

Abstract

Injectable hydrogels have been widely used for a number of biomedical applications. Here, we report a new strategy to form an injectable and glucose-responsive hydrogel using the boronic acid–glucose complexation. The ratio of boronic acid and glucose functional groups is critical for hydrogel formation. In our system, polymers with 10–60% boronic acid, with the balance being glucose-modified, are favorable to form hydrogels. These hydrogels are shear-thinning and self-healing, recovering from shear-induced flow to a gel state within seconds. More importantly, these polymers displayed glucose-responsive release of an encapsulated model drug. The hydrogel reported here is an injectable and glucose-responsive hydrogel constructed from the complexation of boronic acid and glucose within a single component polymeric material.