Tissue repair membrane adapted for adhesion and lubrication, and methods for preparing the same

A method of preparing a tissue repair membrane, the method comprising:

• treating a tissue repair membrane substrate, wherein the tissue repair membrane substrate is a multi-layer sheet, with a reagent to increase active chemical regions on a surface of the membrane;
• treating a hydrogel polymer with a reagent to increase active chemical regions of the hydrogel polymer;
• applying a coating of the treated hydrogel polymer to at least a portion of the surface of the treated tissue repair membrane substrate to form the tissue repair membrane, wherein the resulting hydrogel polymer coating was formed from a solution comprising 0.5% to 5% by weight hyaluronic acid and 0.5% to 5% by weight alginate;
• and
• applying a poly-cationic polymer to at least a portion of the surface of the treated tissue repair membrane substrate or to the applied coating of the hydrogel polymer, wherein at least a portion of the poly-cationic polymer is exposed to form poly-cationic regions,
• wherein at least the hyaluronic acid and the alginate of the hydrogel polymer coating form poly-anionic regions, which provide the tissue repair membrane with lubrication relative to surrounding or adjacent matter, and
• the poly-cationic regions, when brought into contact with the poly-anionic regions, cause the tissue repair membrane to adhere to itself.

A tissue repair membrane comprising:

• a tissue repair membrane substrate, wherein the tissue repair membrane substrate is a multi-layer sheet;
• a hydrogel polymer on at least a portion of one surface of the tissue repair membrane substrate, the hydrogel polymer being formed from a solution of hyaluronic acid and alginate, a concentration of each of the hyaluronic acid and the alginate being 0.5% to 5% by weight, and the hydrogel polymer decreasing a coefficient of static friction when the hydrogel polymer is in a hydrated condition;
• and
• a poly-cationic polymer, underlying the hydrogel polymer, overlying the hydrogel polymer, or part of the hydrogel polymer, wherein at least a portion of the poly-cationic polymer is exposed to form poly-cationic regions;
• wherein at least the hyaluronic acid and the alginate of the hydrogel polymer form poly-anionic regions, which provide the tissue repair membrane with lubrication relative to surrounding or adjacent matter, when in the hydrated configuration, and
• wherein the poly-cationic regions, when brought into contact with the poly-cationic regions, form poly-electrolyte complexes that cause the tissue repair membrane to adhere to itself.

A method of preparing a tissue repair membrane, the method comprising:

• applying a hydrogel polymer solution comprising hyaluronic acid and alginate to a tissue repair membrane substrate, wherein the tissue repair membrane substrate is a multi-layer sheet, and wherein a concentration of each of the hyaluronic acid and the alginate is 0.5% to 5% by weight;
• adding a poly-cationic polymer to the applied hydrogel polymer solution to form poly-cationic regions;
• and
• drying the tissue repair membrane substrate, to which the hydrogel polymer solution has been applied, to provide an at least partial coating of dried hydrogel polymer on the tissue repair membrane substrate, thereby forming the tissue repair membrane,
• wherein at least the hyaluronic acid and the alginate of the hydrogel polymer are configured to interpenetrate the tissue repair membrane substrate to form poly-anionic regions, which provide the tissue repair membrane with lubrication relative to surrounding or adjacent material, and the poly-cationic regions which, when brought into contact with the poly-anionic regions, cause the tissue repair membrane to adhere to itself.