Synthesis and Biomedical Applications of Self-healing Hydrogels

Abstract

Hydrogels, which are crosslinked polymer networks with high water contents and rheological solid-like properties, are attractive materials for biomedical applications. Self-healing hydrogels are particularly interesting because of their abilities to repair the structural damages and recover the original functions, similar to the healing of organism tissues. In addition, self-healing hydrogels with shear-thinning properties can be potentially used as the vehicles for drug/cell delivery or the bioinks for 3D printing by reversible sol-gel transitions. Therefore, self-healing hydrogels as biomedical materials have received a rapidly growing attention in recent years. In this paper, synthesis methods and repair mechanisms of self-healing hydrogels are reviewed. The biomedical applications of self-healing hydrogels are also described, with a focus on the potential therapeutic applications verified through in vivo experiments. The trends indicate that self-healing hydrogels with automatically reversible crosslinks may be further designed and developed for more advanced biomedical applications in the future.

Hydrogels Based on Schiff Base Linkages for Biomedical Applications

“…Click chemistry can yield smart materials that respond to external stimuli, and are often used as a key tool to prepare covalently crosslinked hydrogels for biomedical applications [14]. Typical examples of click chemistry are the Huisgen cycloaddition reaction [15], thiol-ene reaction [16], Diels–Alder reaction [17], Michael addition reaction [18], and the Schiff reaction [19]. These click reactions have been widely used in materials science [20,21,22], life sciences [23], and polymer chemistry [24,25].…”

Advance of Nano-Composite Electrospun Fibers in Periodontal Regeneration

“…To obtain membranes with optimal properties, like biocompatibility, biodegradability, osteoconductivity, even osteoinductivity and ability to promote cell attachment, proliferation and differentiation for periodontal regeneration, electrospinning technology utilizing synthetic or/and natural polymers has received increasing attention (Bottino et al, 2012; Liu et al, 2018). Biocompatible electrospun nanofibers have an innate advantage in mimicking natural ECM, controllable degradation rate and excellent mechanic properties by regulating relative parameters.…”

New Developments in Medical Applications of Hybrid Hydrogels Containing Natural Polymers

“…Self-healing hydrogels can be successfully used in drug/cell delivery or in 3D printing [265]. Self-healing hydrogels based on glycol chitosan and difunctionalized PEG (GC-DP) were also used for tissue repairs, in central nervous system [266], or for inducing blood capillary formation.…”