A swell gel.Technology A swell gel The quest for Verb 1. quest for - go in search of or hunt for; "pursue a hobby" quest after, go after, pursue look for, search, seek - try to locate or discover, or try to establish the existence of; "The police are searching for clues"; "They are searching for the "smart" synthetic tissues, which can respond to changing conditions inside a human body, rests on the capacity of materials to react to their environment. In the case of artificial heart valves artificial heart valve Cardiovascular surgery A synthetic-mechanical or natural–porcine–valve surgically placed into the heart to replace a defective or malfunctioning valve; the aortic and mitral valves are the most frequently replaced with AHVs or muscle tissue, scientists want a material that can expand and contract quickly on demand. With this in mind, biomedical bi·o·med·i·cal adj. 1. Of or relating to biomedicine. 2. Of, relating to, or involving biological, medical, and physical sciences. engineer Teruo Okano of Tokyo Women's Medical College and his coworkers have come up with a new spongelike material. In the March 16 Nature, the team reports that when this new polymer hydrogel hy·dro·gel n. A colloidal gel in which the particles are dispersed in water. hydrogel a gel that contains water. hydrogel Wound care A polymer absorptive wound dressing. See Dressing. absorbs and expels water, it swells and shrinks faster than other materials designed for the same purpose. This feat results from "tailoring the gel architecture at the molecular level." The material has specially crafted, crosslinked molecules, or "comb-type grafts," they say. These molecules, vaguely resembling combs, have long polymer chains studded with small, toothlike side chains. The small side chains contain surfaces that help to expel ex·pel tr.v. ex·pelled, ex·pel·ling, ex·pels 1. To force or drive out: expel an invader. 2. water as the material shrinks. "Whereas similar gels lacking the grafted side chains can take more than a month to undergo full de- swelling, our materials collapse in about 20 minutes," the researchers state. |
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