Injectable hydrogels for tendon and ligament tissue engineering

Abstract

The problem of tendon and ligament (T/L) regeneration in musculoskeletal diseases has long constituted a major challenge. In situ injection of formable biodegradable hydrogels, however, has been demonstrated to treat T/L injury and reduce patient suffering in a minimally invasive manner. An injectable hydrogel is more suitable than other biological materials due to the special physiological structure of T/L. Most other materials utilized to repair T/L are cell‐based, growth factor‐based materials, with few material properties. In addition, the mechanical property of the gel cannot reach the normal T/L level. This review summarizes advances in natural and synthetic polymeric injectable hydrogels for tissue engineering in T/L and presents prospects for injectable and biodegradable hydrogels for its treatment. In future T/L applications, it is necessary develop an injectable hydrogel with mechanics, tissue damage‐specific binding, and disease response. Simultaneously, the advantages of various biological materials must be combined in order to achieve personalized precision therapy.

Preparation of Alginate-Based Biomaterials and Their Applications in Biomedicine

“…Hydrogels are three-dimensional cross-linked networks of hydrophilic polymers [ 37 , 38 , 39 ], and many biomedical applications of alginates are in the form of hydrogels, including wound healing, drug delivery and tissue engineering [ 5 , 14 , 40 , 41 ]. Since the first report of its utility in insulin microencapsulation in 1980, alginate hydrogel has become the most widely used functional material for cell encapsulation and drug carrier [ 42 ].…”

Hybrid Methacrylated Gelatin and Hyaluronic Acid Hydrogel Scaffolds. Preparation and Systematic Characterization for Prospective Tissue Engineering Applications

“…For the second type of hybrid hydrogel (with 5% HAMA), both G and G moduli showed a similar increase rate as that of 1% HAMA hydrogels, but with two main differences: (i) the hardness increased ca. one order of magnitude and the strength was lower, with G values from 9•10 3 to 2•10 4 Pa; (ii) this hybrid hydrogel can be used as a scaffold for dermis, connective tissue, and contracted muscle tissues [52,53].…”

A novel fabrication process of up‐scalable microfiber‐shaped tendon‐like tissue with high cell density for uniformed macroscale assembly

“…As for material viewpoints, our methods have wide varieties in choice of the core ECM. In this paper, we just presented collagen for microfiber fabrication though, polycaprolactone and gelatin methacryloyl, which are being used as an ECM in tendon tissue engineering (Liu et al, 2020; Peach et al, 2012), could be used as the candidates of ECM in the core. Thanks to these features, by bundling the microfiber‐shaped tendon‐like tissues, the tendon‐like tissues having high cell density and uniform cell distribution can be constructed even on a macroscale (Figure 6c).…”