Biomedical Applications of Polymeric Cryogels

Abstract

The application of interconnected supermacroporous cryogels as support matrices for the purification, separation and immobilization of whole cells and different biological macromolecules has been well reported in literature. Cryogels have advantages over traditional gel carriers in the field of biochromatography and related biomedical applications. These matrices nearly mimic the three-dimensional structure of native tissue extracellular matrix. In addition, mechanical, osmotic and chemical stability of cryogels make them attractive polymeric materials for the construction of scaffolds in tissue engineering applications and in vitro cell culture, separation materials for many different processes such as immobilization of biomolecules, capturing of target molecules, and controlled drug delivery. The low mass transfer resistance of cryogel matrices makes them useful in chromatographic applications with the immobilization of different affinity ligands to these materials. Cryogels have been introduced as gel matrices prepared using partially frozen monomer or polymer solutions at temperature below zero. These materials can be produced with different shapes and are of interest in the therapeutic area. This review highlights the recent advances in cryogelation technologies by emphasizing their biomedical applications to supply an overview of their rising stars day to day.

Cryostructuring of Polymeric Systems. 55. Retrospective View on the More than 40 Years of Studies Performed in the A.N.Nesmeyanov Institute of Organoelement Compounds with Respect of the Cryostructuring Processes in Polymeric Systems

“…In addition, the sponge-like cryogels and cryostructurates have proven themselves to date very well as the high-efficient scaffolds for the 3D culturing of human and animal cells, since the spatial “architecture” of the large pores (e.g., see Figure 1 B,H,I) and their walls turned out to be well-suitable for seeding, adhesion, and then proliferation of various cell lines, including stem cells followed by their subsequent transformation to the desired type of tissue cells [ 13 , 19 , 45 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 82 , 83 , 106 ]. In this field, the chemical nature, physico-chemical properties and porosity of the scaffolds are the key factors strongly influencing (of course, in a combination with the properties of the cells) the final biological results.…”

“…Owing to the combination of similar specific porosity and wide possibility to adjust the physico-chemical characteristics of the various cryogenically structured matrices to the requirements of the goal application, polymeric cryogels and cryostructurates have been extensively examined and used in many practical areas. The following overview publications describe and discuss the generalized data related to the applied potential of similar polymeric materials in such fields as biomaterials (the highest quantity of the respective publications) [ 5 , 12 , 13 , 16 , 17 , 38 , 45 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 ], biotechnology [ 5 , 12 , 13 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 30 , …”

Cryostructurization of polymeric systems for developing macroporous cryogel as a foundational framework in bioengineering applications

“…Cryogels have been successfully demonstrated its various applications. 30,31 Our group is doing research on cryogels from more than a decade to explore the fundamental knowledge and translate it for sustainable applications. We have successfully developed various novel cryostructures using various synthetic and natural polymer procures and engineered them with suitable topography and design for improving the application potential.…”

Poly(Hydroxyethyl Methacrylate) Immunoaffinity Cryogel Column for the Purification of Human Immunoglobulin M

“…Immunoaffinity chromatography is a specific type of affinity chromatography, which is based on the certain and firm antigen-antibody interactions. Before the purification process, antigens or antibodies are covalently immobilized on support materials such as agarose, cellulose, acrylamide or chromatographic resins [25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. However, due to the low binding constant and large molecular size of hIgM, macroporous support materials like monoliths are preferably used during hIgM purification [17,21,22,25].…”