Amino acid functionalized pH- and temperature-sensitive biodegradable injectable hydrogels: synthesis, physicochemical characterization and in vivo degradation kinetics

In recent years, injectable hydrogels that undergo sol-to-gel phase transition in response to the physiological pH- and temperature have attracted increasing attention in therapeutics delivery. In this study, we developed a biodegradable pH- and temperature-sensitive pentablock copolymers by chemical conjugation of L-cysteine oligomer to the backbone of poly(ε-caprolactone-co-lactide)-b-poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(ε-caprolactone-co-lactide)...