Investigation and characterization of time-dependent degradation of X-Ca-alginate aerogels for biomedical applications.

Polyurea-crosslinked calcium alginate (X-Ca-Alg) aerogels were investigated under physiological relevant conditions and showed signs of degradation. Geometric and spectral measurements were made to quantify this degradation in vitro and ex vivo. The time dependence in vitro degradation of these aerogels was accelerated in the presence of shear force. Diagnostic ultrasound techniques have been shown to reliably identify X-Ca-Alg aerogels both in vitro and ex vivo as well as detect degradation of these aerogels in these different environments. Geometric measurements of aerogel implants taken from the US images closely match the measurements taken from optical imaging showing the reliability of US imaging and degradation tracking of implants in clinical settings. Acoustic attenuation was also calculated and was shown to indicate and identify aerogel degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]