Advance of Electroconductive Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications in Orthopedics

Abstract

Electroconductive hydrogels (EHs) are promising composite biomaterials of hydrogels and conductive electroactive polymers, incorporating bionic physicochemical properties of hydrogels and conductivity, electrochemistry, and electrical stimulation (ES) responsiveness of conductive electroactive polymers. The biomedical domain has increasingly seen EHs’ application to imitating the biological and electrical properties of human tissues, acclaimed as one of the most effective biomaterials. Bone’s complex bioelectrochemical properties and the corresponding stem cell differentiation affected by electrical signal elevate EHs’ application value in repairing and treating bone, cartilage, and skeletal muscle. Noteworthily, the latest orthopedic biological applications require broader information of EHs. Except for presenting the classification and synthesis of EHs, this review recapitulates the advance of EHs application to orthopedics in the past five years and discusses the pertinent development tendency and challenge, aiming to provide a reference for EHs application direction and prospect in orthopedic therapy.

Recent advances in various stimuli-responsive hydrogels: from synthetic designs to emerging healthcare applications

“…Electrical field sensitive or electroactive hydrogels and nanohydrogels are a special class of hydrogels that can delicately undergo conformational changes by expanding or shrinking in response to an external electrical field. 226,227 Electrically responsive hydrogels are necessarily fabricated frequently during the biomimicry of artificial muscles. 228 These electroactive hydrogels are very useful towards drug delivery 229,230 as well as for biomedical engineering 231 as they work very fast and have reproducible actuation.…”

Carbon-based electrically conductive materials for bone repair and regeneration

“…95,108,139,140 Injectable conductive hydrogels have gained significant attention in bone tissue engineering since they can be delivered into irregular bone tissue defects while guiding new bone formation. [141][142][143] As demonstrated in a study by Liu et al, 144 an injectable conductive hydrogel, BP-CNTpega-gel, composed of CNT-poly(ethylene glycol)-acrylate (CNTpega) with black phosphorous (BP) was developed to support bone regeneration. 144 The inclusion of CNT as the conductive component in the hydrogel allowed BP-CNTpegagel to possess electrically conductive properties.…”

Testing of the pHEMA hydrogel as an implantation material for replacement of osteochondral defects in animals

“…Биосовместимость p-HEMA и его физико-химические свойства обеспечили использование этого материала для изготовления контактных линз, искусственной роговицы, систем доставки лекарственных средств, а также матриц для контролируемой дифференциации стволовых клеток [12]. В ортопедии обсуждается возможность применения p-HEMA для изготовления искусственного хряща, протеза пульпозного ядра межпозвонкового диска, а также использование его в качестве демпфера механических колебаний при изготовлении тотального эндопротеза межпозвонкового диска [11,13].…”

“…В настоящей работе были исследованы репаративные процессы костной и хрящевой тканей при заполнении костно-хрящевого дефекта имплантатом на основе пористого гидрогеля р-HEMA. Выбор p-HEMA опирался на данные литературы, согласно которым этот гель обладает хорошей биосовместимостью [10][11][12][13].…”