Patent ID: 8778326

Claim:
A kit for preparing a rapidly degrading hydrogel tissue adhesive comprising: a) at least one aldehyde-functionalized polysaccharide containing pendant aldehyde groups attached to the carbohydrate of said aldehyde-polysaccharide via one of the ring hydroxyl groups, said aldehyde-functionalized polysaccharide having a weight-average molecular weight of about 1,000 to about 1,000,000 Daltons and a degree of aldehyde substitution of about 10% to about 200%; and b) at least one water-dispersible, multi-arm polyether amine wherein at least three of the arms are terminated by at least one primary amine group, said multi-arm polyether amine having a number-average molecular weight of about 450 to about 200,000 Daltons; wherein the polysaccharide rings of said at least one aldehyde-functionalized polysaccharide have not undergone cleavage via oxidation to introduce aldehyde groups; and combination of a) and b) in a solvent yields hydrogel having an aqueous solution degradation time, as measured by percent swelling, less than the degradation time of a hydrogel prepared with an oxidized polysaccharide that is oxidized by cleavage of the polysaccharide rings to introduce aldehyde groups in place of said aldehyde-functionalized polysaccharide containing pendant aldehyde groups while maintaining comparable gelation time.