AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

Hydrogels are a threedimensional network of hydrophilic polymers newlineheld together by association bonds such as covalent bonds and weak cohesive newlineforces Due to their superior chemical and physical properties hydrogels have newlinereceived much attention for preparing biomedical materials The use of newlinecopolymeric systems prepared starting from two monomers of different newlinehydrophilic character is another possibility for controlling the swelling degree newlineof the gel or the solute diffusion rate from the matrix As the oxygen newlinepermeability of the thick polyHEMA hydrogel contact lenses has been found newlineto be insufficient for the corneal metabolism improved hydrogel contact newlinelenses have been developed to enhance oxygen transport One method was to newlineincrease the water content by copolymerizing with a more hydrophilic newlinemonomer newline%%%Reference p.160-170