Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)-based hydrogels are promising materials for biomedical applications because of their excellent hydrophilicity and biocompatibility. However, conventional chemically cross-linked PEG hydrogels are brittle under mechanical loading. The mechanical resilience and rapid recovery abilities of hydrogel implants are critical in load-bearing tissues, such as articular cartilage, which are routinely subjected to cyclic loadings of high magnitude and frequency. Here, we report the fabrication of novel supramolecular PEG hydrogels by polymerizing N,N-dimethylacrylamide with supramolecular cross-linkers self-assembled from adamantane-grafted PEG and mono-acrylated β-cyclodextrin. The resultant PEG–ADA supramolecular hydrogels exhibit substantial deformability, excellent capacity to dissipate massive amounts of loading energy, and have a rapid, full recovery during excessive, ultrafast, and non-resting cyclic compression. Furthermore, the energy dissipation capacity of the PEG–ADA (adamantane-grafted Poly(ethylene glycol)) hydrogels can be regulated by changing the concentration, molecular weight and cross-linking density of PEG. According to in vitro cell metabolism and viability tests, the PEG–ADA hydrogels are non-cytotoxic. When placed over a monolayer of myoblasts that were subjected to instantaneous compressive loading, the PEG–ADA hydrogel cushion significantly enhanced cell survival under this deleterious mechanical insult compared with the effects of the conventional PEG hydrogel. Therefore, PEG–ADA hydrogels are promising prosthetic biomaterials for the repair and regeneration of load-bearing tissues.

基于聚乙二醇（PEG）的水凝胶具有出色的亲水性和生物相容性，是用于生物医学应用的有前途的材料。然而，常规的化学交联的PEG水凝胶在机械负载下是脆性的。水凝胶植入物的机械弹性和快速恢复能力在诸如关节软骨之类的承重组织中至关重要，这些组织通常受到高强度和高频率的周期性载荷。在这里，我们报告通过聚合N，N制备新型超分子PEG水凝胶由金刚烷接枝的PEG和单丙烯酸β-环糊精自组装的具有超分子交联剂的β-二甲基丙烯酰胺。所得的PEG-ADA超分子水凝胶显示出显着的可变形性，出色的耗散大量加载能量的能力，并且在过度，超快和非静止的循环压缩过程中具有快速，完全的恢复。此外，可以通过改变PEG的浓度，分子量和交联密度来调节PEG-ADA（金刚烷接枝的聚乙二醇）水凝胶的能量消散能力。根据体外细胞代谢和活力测试，PEG-ADA水凝胶无细胞毒性。当放置在经受瞬时压缩载荷的成肌细胞单层上时，与传统的PEG水凝胶相比，PEG-ADA水凝胶垫在这种有害的机械损伤下显着提高了细胞存活率。因此，PEG-ADA水凝胶是用于修复和再生承重组织的有前途的人工生物材料。