Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A method for ablating hyaluronan-based hydrogels, the method comprising the steps of:(a) preparing hyaluronan-based hydrogels; and(b) performing X-ray irradiation to the hyaluronan-based hydrogels to induce a degradation of the hyaluronan-based hydrogels by a gel-to-sol transition during the X-ray irradiation. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the X-ray irradiation is performed using hard X-rays. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the X-ray irradiation is performed using X-rays in the range of 10-60 keV. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the degradation kinetics of the hyaluronan-based hydrogels is determined by total X-ray dose during the X-ray irradiation. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the total X-ray dose to initiate the transition is in the range of 0.2˜1 J g−1. 6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the total X-ray dose to complete the transition is in the range of 2˜4 J g−1. 7. A method for fabricating three-dimensional microchannels of hyaluronan-based hydrogels with X-ray ablation, the method comprising the steps of:(a) preparing hyaluronan-based hydrogels; and(b) performing X-ray irradiation to the hyaluronan-based hydrogels via a mask transmitting X-rays locally to induce a degradation of the hyaluronan-based hydrogels by a gel-to-sol transition during the X-ray irradiation. 8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the X-ray irradiation is performed using hard X-rays. 9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the X-ray irradiation is performed using X-rays in the range of 10-60 keV. 10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the depth and the width of the microchannels are tunable by adjusting the X-ray dose and the mask width, respectively. 11. The method according to claim 7, wherein the degradation kinetics of the hyaluronan-based hydrogels is determined by the total X-ray dose during the X-ray irradiation. 12. The method according to claim 7, wherein the total X-ray dose to initiate the transition is in the range of 0.2˜1 J g−1. 13. The method according to claim 7, wherein the total X-ray dose to complete the transition is in the range of 2˜4 J g−1.