Supramolecular hydrogels for antimicrobial therapy

Abstract

The emergence of drug-resistant microbes has become a threat to global health, and microbial infections severely limit the use of healthcare materials. To achieve efficient antimicrobial therapy, supramolecular hydrogels demonstrate unprecedented advantages in medical applications due to the tunable and reversible nature of their supramolecular interactions and the capability of hydrogels to incorporate various therapeutic agents. Herein, antimicrobial hydrogels are categorized according to their inherent antimicrobial properties or based on their roles in encapsulating antimicrobial materials. Moreover, strategies to further enhance the antimicrobial efficacy of hydrogels are highlighted, such as the incorporation of antifouling agents or the enabling of response towards physiological cues. We envision that supramolecular hydrogels, in combination with modern medical technology and devices, will contribute to the development of efficient and safe systems for antimicrobial therapy.

Nanocatalytic Medicine

“…Auxotrophic bacteria rely on parasitism in other living organisms in nature to obtain essential nutrients, which may result in negative, or positive effects to the physiological activities of host organisms . For example, the prevalence of pathogenic bacteria at wounds or other susceptible interfaces can lead to infection, causing the generation of a mass of toxins that may significantly disturb the healing process . In the past century, bacterial infections have posed a serious global challenge to human health and brought heavy economic burdens to the public .…”

Going Beyond Traditional Applications? The Potential of Hydrogels

“…An impetus behind this innovation is the repurposing of sustainable and innovative soft materials originally developed for biomedical applications. [24][25][26][27][28] Hydrogels possess inherent rubbery consistency, responsiveness to external stimuli, adaptivity, tunability, high water content, low interfacial tension to human tissue, biocompatibility, and biodegradability that make them competitive in these emerging engineering applications. [29][30][31][32][33] Small Methods 2019, 3,1800270 www.small-methods.com…”

Biomimetic Extreme‐Temperature‐ and Environment‐Adaptable Hydrogels

“…Hydrogels can absorb and retain large amounts of water [15] due to their hydrophilicity while key features are its viscoelastic properties, which closely simulate natural living tissue, permeability to molecules, such as proteins, growth factors, ions and bioactive agents, biocompatibility [15] and biofunctionality. [16,17] Therefore, hydrogels are traditionally candidates for biomedical applications, [18][19][20] such as tissue engineering, [21] contact lens, wound dressing, [22] drug delivery, [15] vehicles for cell delivery [23,24] and hygiene products, and have been employed extensively. [23,[25][26][27][28] Progress in hydrogel design, such as (tough) double network hydrogels, [29][30][31][32][33][34] tough hydrogels, [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44] supramolecular tough hydrogels, [45][46][47] stimuli responsive hydrogels [48] and shape morphing hydrogels, [49][50][51][52][53][54][55]…”