Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications: Their Characteristics and the Mechanisms behind Them

Chai, Qinyuan; Jiao, Yang; Yu, Xinjun

doi:10.3390/gels3010006

Cited by 761 publications

(501 citation statements)

References 85 publications

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“…The reversible transition of this hydrogel can be controlled under mild conditions, suggesting that this hydrogel may have a promising role in bioengineering applications for the release of molecular or cellular species. A novel light-responsive hydrogel was made from a poly(isopropyl acrylamide) nanocomposite incorporating glycidyl methacrylate-functionalized graphene oxide [101].…”

Section: Polymer Hydrogels and Nanogelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polymers and Polymer Nanocomposites for Cancer Therapy

Feldman

2019

Applied Sciences

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Synthetic polymers, biopolymers, and their nanocomposites are being studied, and some of them are already used in different medical areas. Among the synthetic ones that can be mentioned are polyolefins, fluorinated polymers, polyesters, silicones, and others. Biopolymers such as polysaccharides (chitosan, hyaluronic acid, starch, cellulose, alginates) and proteins (silk, fibroin) have also become widely used and investigated for applications in medicine. Besides synthetic polymers and biopolymers, their nanocomposites, which are hybrids formed by a macromolecular matrix and a nanofiller (mineral or organic), have attracted great attention in the last decades in medicine and in other fields due to their outstanding properties. This review covers studies done recently using the polymers, biopolymers, nanocomposites, polymer micelles, nanomicelles, polymer hydrogels, nanogels, polymersomes, and liposomes used in medicine as drugs or drug carriers for cancer therapy and underlines their responses to internal and external stimuli able to make them more active and efficient. They are able to replace conventional cancer drug carriers, with better results. Appl. Sci. 2019, 9, 3899 2 of 24 nanocomposites offer numerous opportunities in diverse applications, including nanocarriers, tissue engineering, antimicrobials, sensors, etc. These new groups of materials have gained significant research interest due to their novel properties, which are gained through the addition of nanofillers. Polymer nanocomposites have significant potential in disease theranostics, and nanotechnology brings great promise in cancer drug carriers [4].Chemotherapy implies the use of drugs and, besides the drugs, carriers. Common products used as carriers include synthetic polymers, biopolymers, and polymer nanocomposites.Some of the most useful drugs for chemotherapy are toxic chemicals able to inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells. The use of chemotherapeutic drugs has been in part hindered by their poor solubility in water, their short biological half-life, their lack of targeting ability, and the development of multidrug resistance [5]. In the last decades, nanoparticles have shown significant promise as an oncology treatment modality. Responsive polymers represent a promising class of nanoparticles that can trigger delivery through the exploitation of a specific stimuli. Response to a stimulus is one of the most basic processes found in living systems. A tutorial review highlighted the recent developments in polymer-based approaches to internally responsive nanoparticles for oncology [6].One important goal of medicine is to develop carriers that can selectively deliver anticancer drugs to tumor cells with no or minimal side effects in healthy cells [7,8].Polymers and their nanocomposites in different forms, such as micelles, hydrogels, polymersomes, and liposomes, have important potential in cancer diagnosis and treatment.Nanocomposites are popular in many areas due to properties such as their unique design capacity, eco-friendly nature, ...

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Section: Polymer Hydrogels and Nanogelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polymers and Polymer Nanocomposites for Cancer Therapy

Feldman

2019

Applied Sciences

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“…Recent advances in polymer science have also allowed the creation of "smart" hydrogels that can undergo sol-gel phase transition, swell or degrade in response to various physical and chemical stimuli. This is of great interest to the scientific community due to its potential to be engineered for multiple biomedical applications [78].…”

Section: Hydrogelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of biomaterials for sustained delivery of anti-VEGF to treat retinal diseases

Seah

Zhao

Lin

et al. 2020

Eye

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Anti-vascular endothelial growth factors (anti-VEGF) have become the most common treatment modality for many retinal diseases. These include neovascular age-related macular degeneration (n-AMD), proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and retinal vein occlusions (RVO). However, these drugs are administered via intravitreal injections that are associated with sight-threatening complications. The most feared of these complications is endophthalmitis, a severe infection of the eye with extremely poor visual outcomes. Patients with retinal diseases typically have to undergo multiple injections before achieving the desired therapeutic effect. Each injection incurs the risk of the sight-threatening complications. As such, there has been great interest in developing sustained delivery platforms for anti-VEGF agents to the posterior segment of the eye. In recent years, there have been various strategies that have been conceptualised. These include non-biodegradable implants, nano-formulations and hydrogels. In this review, the barriers of drug delivery to the posterior segment of the eye will be explained. The characteristics of an ideal sustained delivery platform will then be discussed. Finally, the current available strategies will be analysed with the above-mentioned characteristics in mind to determine the advantages and disadvantages of each sustained drug delivery modality. Through the above, this review attempts to provide an overview of the sustained delivery platforms in their various phases of development.These authors contributed equally: Ivan Seah Yu Jun, Zhao Xin Xin 1234567890();,:1234567890();,:

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“…Hydrogels are 3D structures comprising crosslinked polymers and water, and have been utilized in a variety of tissue engineering applications 20–22. Since hydrogels resemble natural ECM structurally and compositionally, they provide a microenvironment to cells for effective adhesion, proliferation, and invasion 23–26. Several hydrogels have been used as an effective scaffold for the delivery of cells and/or signals for tissue regeneration and tissue model 27,28.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent Strategies in Fabrication of Gradient Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering Applications

Yoon

Gajendiran

et al. 2019

Macromolecular Bioscience

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Hydrogels are widely used as scaffold in tissue engineering field because of their ability to mimic the cellular microenvironment. However, mimicking a completely natural cellular environment is complicated due to the differences in various physical and chemical properties of cellular environments. Recently, gradient hydrogels provide excellent heterogeneous environment to mimic the different cellular microenvironments. To create hydrogels with an anisotropic distribution, gradient hydrogels have been widely developed by adopting several gradient generation techniques. Herein, the various gradient hydrogel fabrication techniques, including dual syringe pump systems, microfluidic device, photolithography, diffusion, and bio‐printing are summarized. As the effects of gradient 3D hydrogels with stems have been reviewed elsewhere, this review focuses principally on gradient hydrogel fabrication for multi‐model tissue regeneration. This review provides new insights into the key points for fabrication of gradient hydrogels for multi‐model tissue regeneration.

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Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications: Their Characteristics and the Mechanisms behind Them

Cited by 761 publications

References 85 publications

Polymers and Polymer Nanocomposites for Cancer Therapy

Polymers and Polymer Nanocomposites for Cancer Therapy

Use of biomaterials for sustained delivery of anti-VEGF to treat retinal diseases

Recent Strategies in Fabrication of Gradient Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering Applications

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