Antimicrobial Hydrogels: Potential Materials for Medical Application

Abstract

Microbial infections based on drug‐resistant pathogenic organisms following surgery or trauma and uncontrolled bleeding are the main causes of increased mortality from trauma worldwide. The prevalence of drug‐resistant pathogens has led to a significant increase in medical costs and poses a great threat to the normal life of people. This is an important issue in the field of biomedicine, and the emergence of new antimicrobial materials hydrogels holds great promise for solving this problem. Hydrogel is an important material with good biocompatibility, water absorption, oxygen permeability, adhesion, degradation, self‐healing, corrosion resistance, and controlled release of drugs as well as structural diversity. Bacteria‐disturbing hydrogels have important applications in the direction of surgical treatment, wound dressing, medical device coating, and tissue engineering. This paper reviews the classification of antimicrobial hydrogels, the current status of research, and the potential of antimicrobial hydrogels for one application in biomedicine, and analyzes the current research of hydrogels in biomedical applications from five aspects: metal‐loaded hydrogels, drug‐loaded hydrogels, carbon‐material‐loaded hydrogels, hydrogels with fixed antimicrobial activity and biological antimicrobial hydrogels, and provides an outlook on the high antimicrobial activity, biodegradability, biocompatibility, injectability, clinical applicability and future development prospects of hydrogels in this field.

Entropy engineering enhances the electromagnetic wave absorption of high-entropy transition metal dichalcogenides/N-doped carbon nanofiber composites

“…First, the absorber should possess the impedance matching property, enabling the entry of the EMW with low reflection. 51 Second, the absorber must exhibit efficient attenuation characteristics, resulting in the effective dissipation of electromagnetic energy. 21 The impedance matching and attenuation constant can be calculated as follows: 52 Zr…”

Hydrogel Based on Riclin Cross-Linked with Polyethylene Glycol Diglycidyl Ether as a Soft Filler for Tissue Engineering

“…Hydrogels are soft-solid materials with a cross-linked three-dimensional polymer network. Owing to their high hydrophilic properties and unique structures, hydrogels have been widely applied in drug delivery, wound healing, tissue engineering scaffolds, and cosmetics. − Injectable hydrogels with superior functional properties are promising biomaterials for soft tissue augmentation due to their simple application procedures and low costs. , Under shear stress, the viscosity of hydrogels decreases significantly, enabling the injectability as a liquid. Subsequently, injectable hydrogels recover their original network structure and mechanical strength.…”

Fabrication of Core–Shell Nanohybrid-Structured Hydrogel Sensors with Desirable Mechanical and Antibacterial Properties by Quaternary Ammonium Ionic Liquids with Different Chain Lengths

“…43 The preparation methods for the binding of antimicrobial agents to hydrogels mainly include physical binding (direct encapsulation, solubilization and diffusion, carrier encapsulation) and chemical binding (formation of chemical bonds between hydrogels with inherent antimicrobial activity). 40,44 Amines are widely present in the biological world, with very important physiological and biological activities; for example, alkaloids, nucleic acids, antibiotics, and proteins are amine derivatives, and most of the drugs are amines or amine derivatives, so mastering the nature and synthesis of amines is the basis of the study of these complex natural products and the better maintenance of human health. 45,46 Dimethylammonium ethyl methacrylate (DM) is amine basic; the molecule contains a tertiary amino group, an ester group, and an unsaturated double bond, and acid can produce salt and chloromethane and other reactions to produce quaternary ammonium ionic liquids (DM x ).…”

“…Fortunately, the emergence of antimicrobial materials offers great hope for solving the problem of infection risk. − For example, cationic polyelectrolyte brushes grafted from bacterial cellulose (BC) nanofibers were introduced into a polydopamine/polyacrylamide hydrogel by Yang et al, and the hydrogel showed less inflammatory response and a faster healing rate in wound healing in rats in vivo . The preparation methods for the binding of antimicrobial agents to hydrogels mainly include physical binding (direct encapsulation, solubilization and diffusion, carrier encapsulation) and chemical binding (formation of chemical bonds between hydrogels with inherent antimicrobial activity). , Amines are widely present in the biological world, with very important physiological and biological activities; for example, alkaloids, nucleic acids, antibiotics, and proteins are amine derivatives, and most of the drugs are amines or amine derivatives, so mastering the nature and synthesis of amines is the basis of the study of these complex natural products and the better maintenance of human health. , Dimethylammonium ethyl methacrylate (DM) is amine basic; the molecule contains a tertiary amino group, an ester group, and an unsaturated double bond, and acid can produce salt and chloromethane and other reactions to produce quaternary ammonium ionic liquids (DM x ). , Taking inspiration from the alkylamines in the natural antibacterial purple daisy, we synthesized a series of antibacterial hydrogels based on DM x ( X = 2, 6, 12, and 16) with different chain lengths. The effect of the length of the hydrophobic alkyl group on the antimicrobial activity of DM x and on the mechanical properties of the aniline sphere-toughened hydrogel as well as the effect of the aniline sphere content on the conductivity of the hydrogel were investigated in more detail.…”