Kuragel: A biomimetic hydrogel scaffold designed to promote corneal regeneration

Parinita Agrawal; Anil Tiwari; Suvro Kanti Chowdhury; Mehak Vohra; Abha Gour; Neha Waghmare; Utkarsh Bhutani; S. Kamalnath; Bharti Sangwan; Jyoti Rajput; Ritu Raj; Nisha P. Rajendran; Ajith V. Kamath; Ramez Haddadin; Arun Chandru; Virender S. Sangwan; Tuhin Bhowmick

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2024.109641

Kuragel: A biomimetic hydrogel scaffold designed to promote corneal regeneration

Parinita Agrawal
, Anil Tiwari
, Suvro Kanti Chowdhury
, Mehak Vohra
, Abha Gour
, Neha Waghmare
, Utkarsh Bhutani
, S. Kamalnath
, Bharti Sangwan
, Jyoti Rajput
, Ritu Raj
, Nisha P. Rajendran
, Ajith V. Kamath
, Ramez Haddadin
, Arun Chandru
, Virender S. Sangwan
, Tuhin Bhowmick

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

13 Citations (SciVal)

Abstract

Cornea-related injuries are the most common cause of blindness worldwide. Transplantation remains the primary approach for addressing corneal blindness, though the demand for donor corneas outmatches the supply by millions. Tissue adhesives employed to seal corneal wounds have shown inefficient healing and incomplete vision restoration. We have developed a biodegradable hydrogel – Kuragel, with the ability to promote corneal regeneration. Functionalized gelatin and hyaluronic acid form photo-crosslinkable hydrogel with transparency and compressive modulus similar to healthy human cornea. Kuragel composition was tuned to achieve sufficient adhesive strength for sutureless integration to host tissue, with minimal swelling post-administration. Studies in the New Zealand rabbit mechanical injury model affecting corneal epithelium and stroma demonstrate that Kuragel efficiently promotes re-epithelialization within 1 month of administration, while stroma and sub-basal nerve plexus regenerate within 3 months. We propose Kuragel as a regenerative treatment for patients suffering from corneal defects including thinning, by restoration of transparency and thickness.

Original language	English
Article number	109641
Number of pages	20
Journal	iScience
Volume	27
Issue number	5
Early online date	28 Mar 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.109641
Publication status	Published - 17 May 2024

Funding

The authors acknowledge Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre, India for providing resources for carrying out in vitro studies. The authors thank Mission Bay Capital, MBC Biolabs, San Francisco, USA for supporting the research. The authors also extend their thanks to Dabur Research Foundation, India for providing infrastructure for carrying out studies in rabbits. Conceptualization, T.B. and A.C.; methodology and validation, P.A. A.T. A.G. A.V.K. and R.H.; investigation, P.A. A.G. S.K.C. M.V. N.W. U.B. K.S. B.S. J.R. R.R. and N.P.R.; project administration, P.A. and A.T.; writing \u2013 original draft, P.A. A.T. and M.V. with inputs from all the authors; writing \u2013 review and editing, P.A. S.K.C. A.T. and T.B.; resources, T.B. A.C. and V.S.S.; supervision, T.B. V.S.S. R.H. and A.V.K. We declare the patent application, WO2023209738A1, filed by Pandorum Technologies Pvt. Ltd. comprises information related to this work where T.B. P.A. S.K.C. and K.S. are inventors.

Funders	Funder number
Bangalore Bioinnovation Centre
Pandorum Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Dabur Research Foundation	WO2023209738A1

Keywords

Bioengineering
Biomaterials
Materials science

Access to Document

10.1016/j.isci.2024.109641Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Cite this

Agrawal, P., Tiwari, A., Chowdhury, S. K., Vohra, M., Gour, A., Waghmare, N., Bhutani, U., Kamalnath, S., Sangwan, B., Rajput, J., Raj, R., Rajendran, N. P., Kamath, A. V., Haddadin, R., Chandru, A., Sangwan, V. S., & Bhowmick, T. (2024). Kuragel: A biomimetic hydrogel scaffold designed to promote corneal regeneration. iScience, 27(5), Article 109641. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.109641

@article{a4167edae25e42f991fb72d916430af5,

title = "Kuragel: A biomimetic hydrogel scaffold designed to promote corneal regeneration",

abstract = "Cornea-related injuries are the most common cause of blindness worldwide. Transplantation remains the primary approach for addressing corneal blindness, though the demand for donor corneas outmatches the supply by millions. Tissue adhesives employed to seal corneal wounds have shown inefficient healing and incomplete vision restoration. We have developed a biodegradable hydrogel – Kuragel, with the ability to promote corneal regeneration. Functionalized gelatin and hyaluronic acid form photo-crosslinkable hydrogel with transparency and compressive modulus similar to healthy human cornea. Kuragel composition was tuned to achieve sufficient adhesive strength for sutureless integration to host tissue, with minimal swelling post-administration. Studies in the New Zealand rabbit mechanical injury model affecting corneal epithelium and stroma demonstrate that Kuragel efficiently promotes re-epithelialization within 1 month of administration, while stroma and sub-basal nerve plexus regenerate within 3 months. We propose Kuragel as a regenerative treatment for patients suffering from corneal defects including thinning, by restoration of transparency and thickness.",

keywords = "Bioengineering, Biomaterials, Materials science",

author = "Parinita Agrawal and Anil Tiwari and Chowdhury, \{Suvro Kanti\} and Mehak Vohra and Abha Gour and Neha Waghmare and Utkarsh Bhutani and S. Kamalnath and Bharti Sangwan and Jyoti Rajput and Ritu Raj and Rajendran, \{Nisha P.\} and Kamath, \{Ajith V.\} and Ramez Haddadin and Arun Chandru and Sangwan, \{Virender S.\} and Tuhin Bhowmick",

year = "2024",

month = may,

day = "17",

doi = "10.1016/j.isci.2024.109641",

language = "English",

volume = "27",

journal = "iScience",

issn = "2589-0042",

publisher = "Elsevier",

number = "5",

}

Agrawal, P, Tiwari, A, Chowdhury, SK, Vohra, M, Gour, A, Waghmare, N, Bhutani, U, Kamalnath, S, Sangwan, B, Rajput, J, Raj, R, Rajendran, NP, Kamath, AV, Haddadin, R, Chandru, A, Sangwan, VS & Bhowmick, T 2024, 'Kuragel: A biomimetic hydrogel scaffold designed to promote corneal regeneration', iScience, vol. 27, no. 5, 109641. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.109641

TY - JOUR

T1 - Kuragel: A biomimetic hydrogel scaffold designed to promote corneal regeneration

AU - Agrawal, Parinita

AU - Tiwari, Anil

AU - Chowdhury, Suvro Kanti

AU - Vohra, Mehak

AU - Gour, Abha

AU - Waghmare, Neha

AU - Bhutani, Utkarsh

AU - Kamalnath, S.

AU - Sangwan, Bharti

AU - Rajput, Jyoti

AU - Raj, Ritu

AU - Rajendran, Nisha P.

AU - Kamath, Ajith V.

AU - Haddadin, Ramez

AU - Chandru, Arun

AU - Sangwan, Virender S.

AU - Bhowmick, Tuhin

PY - 2024/5/17

Y1 - 2024/5/17

N2 - Cornea-related injuries are the most common cause of blindness worldwide. Transplantation remains the primary approach for addressing corneal blindness, though the demand for donor corneas outmatches the supply by millions. Tissue adhesives employed to seal corneal wounds have shown inefficient healing and incomplete vision restoration. We have developed a biodegradable hydrogel – Kuragel, with the ability to promote corneal regeneration. Functionalized gelatin and hyaluronic acid form photo-crosslinkable hydrogel with transparency and compressive modulus similar to healthy human cornea. Kuragel composition was tuned to achieve sufficient adhesive strength for sutureless integration to host tissue, with minimal swelling post-administration. Studies in the New Zealand rabbit mechanical injury model affecting corneal epithelium and stroma demonstrate that Kuragel efficiently promotes re-epithelialization within 1 month of administration, while stroma and sub-basal nerve plexus regenerate within 3 months. We propose Kuragel as a regenerative treatment for patients suffering from corneal defects including thinning, by restoration of transparency and thickness.

AB - Cornea-related injuries are the most common cause of blindness worldwide. Transplantation remains the primary approach for addressing corneal blindness, though the demand for donor corneas outmatches the supply by millions. Tissue adhesives employed to seal corneal wounds have shown inefficient healing and incomplete vision restoration. We have developed a biodegradable hydrogel – Kuragel, with the ability to promote corneal regeneration. Functionalized gelatin and hyaluronic acid form photo-crosslinkable hydrogel with transparency and compressive modulus similar to healthy human cornea. Kuragel composition was tuned to achieve sufficient adhesive strength for sutureless integration to host tissue, with minimal swelling post-administration. Studies in the New Zealand rabbit mechanical injury model affecting corneal epithelium and stroma demonstrate that Kuragel efficiently promotes re-epithelialization within 1 month of administration, while stroma and sub-basal nerve plexus regenerate within 3 months. We propose Kuragel as a regenerative treatment for patients suffering from corneal defects including thinning, by restoration of transparency and thickness.

KW - Bioengineering

KW - Biomaterials

KW - Materials science

UR - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004224008630

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85190142995

U2 - 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109641

DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109641

M3 - Article

C2 - 38646166

SN - 2589-0042

VL - 27

JO - iScience

JF - iScience

IS - 5

M1 - 109641

ER -

Kuragel: A biomimetic hydrogel scaffold designed to promote corneal regeneration

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this