Characterization and Use of Bottlebrush Polymers for Lubrication of Tissues and Medical Devices [English translation]

Friction between the body's moving surfaces can be a difficult problem to solve, particularly in degenerative pathologies such as osteoarthritis or dry eye. Despite the development of numerous pharmaceutical products, the materials currently used to protect injured tissues and biomedical devices against frictional wear are still limited in their performance. There is an urgent need for injectable materials capable of protecting these tissues and devices in order to extend their life and effectively treat degenerative diseases. Among the innovations of the last decade, polymers with a so-called "brush structure" (BBs) have shown promise in reducing friction and wear problems. Inspired by the specific architecture of proteoglycan 4, one of the main lubricating components of cartilage, BBs macromolecules consist of a linear backbone and side chains forming a dense brush capable of holding water under high pressure. The different structures of BBs, depending on the backbone and their side chains, lead to several morphological features and tribological properties of interest in tissue engineering. Although their lubricating properties have been proven in several studies, BBs have few applications to date. On the one hand, the correlation between their structure and physicochemical properties has not yet been clearly established. On the other hand, studies on the effectiveness of BBs on real tissues are still lacking. To overcome this problem, our project aims to characterize the physicochemical and tribological properties of BBs on different types of surfaces, depending on their structure. Backbone length, graft density and anchoring group are the 3 main variables studied in this project. Lubrication and other important properties of BBs were evaluated on the soft surfaces of cartilages, eyes and contact lenses. Tribological testing was carried out using a Surface Force Apparatus (SFA) via a combination of the classic and advanced protocol, adapting it to the surfaces tested. Alongside tribology, the kinetic affinity, toxicity, anti-fouling and anti-inflammatory properties of BBs on interfaces were also studied in this project via LigandTracer and fluorescent microscopy techniques.