Opportunities for Multicomponent Hybrid Hydrogels in Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Hydrogels provide mechanical support and a hydrated environment that offer good cytocompatibility and controlled release of molecules, and myriad hydrogels thus have been studied for biomedical applications. In the past few decades, research in these areas has shifted increasingly to multicomponent hydrogels that better capture the multifunctional nature of native biological environments and that offer opportunities to selectively tailor materials properties. This review summarizes recent approaches aimed at producing multicomponent hydrogels, with descriptions of contemporary chemical and physical approaches for forming networks, and of the use of both synthetic and biologically derived molecules to impart desired properties. Specific multicomponent materials with enhanced mechanical properties are presented, as well as materials in which multiple biological functions are imparted for applications in tissue engineering, cancer treatment, and gene therapies. The progress in the field suggests significant promise for these approaches in the development of biomedically relevant materials.

Structured Macroporous Hydrogels: Progress, Challenges, and Opportunities

“…The use of aqueous two-phase systems that avoid organic solvents [189] or applying the lessons learned from surfactant or block copolymer-based templating of anisotropic nanoparticles to create more aligned or more regular pore sizes [33] would overcome many of the issues associated with bicontinuous emulsion techniques, which can already achieve the smaller resolution pores targeted by newer additive manufacturing approaches. New particulate templating techniques such as PRINT (particle replication in nonwetting templates) [190] may also be used to develop new shapes and sizes of easily dissolvable porogens that can create higher porosity networks with improved mechanics and better probabilities of pore interconnectivity relative to spheres; for example, porogens with sharper edges, controllable solubilization via blending, or smaller sizes may have higher probabilities of interlocking and thus creating a continuous pore structure while being easier to remove postgelation.…”

Impact of Protein Gel Porosity on the Digestion of Lipid Emulsions

“…Hydrogels have often been used in drug delivery and controlled release because the release of polymeric active ingredients can be controlled by designing; hydrogel porosity (through the combination of polymer volume fraction and cross-link density) and/or hydrogel-active affinity (39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44). In food natural (and modified) biopolymers such as polysaccharides (e.g.…”

Physically Crosslinked Biocompatible Silk‐Fibroin‐Based Hydrogels with High Mechanical Performance

“…Chemical crosslinking was used as a facile routine approach to boost the mechanical properties of the natural polymer based hydrogels, but the safety of the chemical crosslinking reagent involved was a primary concern and the use of that might cause some unfavorable problems. [ 14 ] Besides chemical crosslinking, other efforts such as physical treatments [ 17,18 ] or mixing with other natural/synthetic polymers, [ 15,19 ] have been made to strengthen the natural polymer based hydrogels, yet the problem is still no closer to be solved.Among all natural polymers, Bombyx mori silk fi broin (SF) is one of the ideal candidates for biomedical applications due to it combining suffi cient mechanical performance, biocompatibility, and biodegradability. [20][21][22][23][24] Many approaches were employed to fabricate the physically crosslinked silk based hydrogels, such as sonication, vortex, addition of ethanol, and electrical fi eld.…”