A series of amphiphilic hydrogel tubules have been prepared by copolymerizing/crosslinking hydrophilic poly(dimethylacrylamide) segments with hydrophobic di-, tri-, and octamethacrylate-telechelic polyisobutylene crosslinkers, and their elastic modulus and burst strength in the water-swollen state were investigated. Because the burst characteristics of hydrogels have not yet been quantitatively investigated, equipment was designed and built to generate fundamental insight into the burst properties of thin-walled (200-250 mum) narrow lumen (2-3 mm i.d.) water-swollen tubules. The theory developed to describe quantitatively the inflation behavior of thin-walled rubber tubules was adapted to treat our experimental observations. Changes in the burst strength, elastic modulus, and expansion during the inflation of hydrogel tubules were interpreted in terms of the molecular weight of the hydrophilic segments between crosslinking sites (M-c,M-hydrophile), which in turn was calculated according to the rubber elasticity theory. According to these investigations, the burst strength of our water-swollen amphiphilic tubules is in the 0.2-0.5 MPa range, which is sufficient for implantation and immunoisolatory applications.