Stiffness modulation and pulsatile release in dual responsive hydrogels

Abstract Inspired by nature, self‐regulation can be introduced in synthetic hydrogels by incorporating chemo‐mechanical signals or coupled chemical reactions to maintain or adapt the material's physico‐chemical properties when exposed to external triggers. In this work, we present redox and light dual stimuli responsive hydrogels capable of rapidly adapting the polymer crosslinking network while maintaining hydrogel stability. Upon irradiation with UV light, polymer hydrogels containing redox responsive disulfide crosslinks and light responsive ortho ‐nitrobenzyl moieties show a release of payload accompanied by adaptation of the hydrogel network towards higher stiffness due to in situ crosslinking by S‐nitrosylation. Whereas the hydrogel design allows the network to either become softer in presence of reducing agent glutathione or stiffer upon UV irradiation, simultaneous application of both stimuli induces network self‐regulation resulting in a pulsatile form of payload release from the hydrogel. Finally, adaptive stiffness was used to make tunable hydrogels as substrates for different cell lines.