Electro-responsive hydrogels: macromolecular and supramolecular approaches in the biomedical field

Abstract

Hydrogels are soft materials of the utmost importance in the biomedical and healthcare fields.

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

“…223 226,227 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. The amount and sensitivity of a hydrogel towards an electric field may be altered by changing the relative location of the electrodes and the hydrogel.…”

Smart drug delivery systems for precise cancer therapy

“…were studied, which was reviewed by Carayon et al. 90 Besides the activation of DDSs, electric field could also exhibit various physiological effects on tissues and cells, assisting the delivery of therapeutic agents. Electroporation, for example, could transiently promote the permeability of drugs through cell membranes, with intense research in the delivery of macromolecules such as proteins and genes 91 , 92 , while strong electric fields could further realize ablation or cytotoxicity on tumor cells and microorganisms by themselves 93 .…”

Applications and Mechanisms of Stimuli-Responsive Hydrogels in Traumatic Brain Injury

“…In addition, electroresponsive hydrogels can promote signal transduction, thereby affecting cell growth and proliferation [ 54 ]. Moreover, electroresponsive hydrogels can also affect cellular processes, such as angiogenesis, neurogenesis, or cardiogenesis under electric field stimulation, showing good potential in biomedical engineering [ 52 , 55 ]. For instance, chitosan can be electro-activated by aniline–pentamer segments, and an injectable electroactive hydrogel based on pluronic–chitosan/aniline–pentamer clearly improved hippocampal-dependent learning and memory performance [ 56 ].…”