Versatile composite hydrogels for drug delivery and beyond

Abstract

Hydrogels have extended applications across multiple fields. A novel hydrogel material is often evaluated for their properties and applications in either wet or dry state, but not both. In this...

Modelling network formation in folded protein hydrogels by cluster aggregation kinetics

“…Gel structures which yield percolating pore networks (e.g. low monomer volume fractions) 90 are important for applications where diffusion through the gel is important, such as in drug delivery and nutrient accessibility for in cell-seeded gels 40,[92][93][94][95][96][97][98] .…”

“…low monomer volume fractions) 90 are important for applications where diffusion through the gel is important, such as in drug delivery and nutrient accessibility for in cellseeded gels. 40,[92][93][94][95][96][97][98] Pore size and distribution are important considerations in tissue engineering, for example where certain cell types need pores of particular sizes for effective growth and tissue regeneration. 99,100 Being able to control and reproduce the properties of porous gel structure is important for regulating seeded cell properties and behaviour, including proliferation, migration, differentiation and phenotypic variation.…”

Research progress on albumin-based hydrogels: Properties, preparation methods, types and its application for antitumor-drug delivery and tissue engineering

“…Physical properties Large aspect ratio Amyloid fibrils are typically a few nanometres wide (d), while having a length (L) of several tens of micrometres, so it has a large aspect ratio (L/d) (Chiti and Dobson, 2017;Cao and Mezzenga, 2019). Scanning electron microscopic observations of the BSA-based hydrogel constructed by Chiang et al showed that it was also composed of an amyloid fibrous structure, which also showed a large aspect ratio (Chiang et al, 2020). Meanwhile, this BSA-based hydrogel exhibits a slow-release effect due to its porous structure and hybrid siloxane bridges High Young's modulus The presence of a densely ordered network of hydrogen bonds in the crossed beta structure, similar to the crystalline region of a polymer, gives the fibrils a Young's modulus of 2-4 GPa and makes them one of the hardest protein materials (Adamcik et al, 2012).…”

A nano-platform harnessing synergistic amino acid browning for biomedical applications

“…Our initial focus was on the development of organosilica-protein hydrogels for drug delivery. [14][15][16] During certain stages of this work, we made attempts to remove the organosilica structure from the freeze-dried protein hydrogel by immersing the gel bodies in a combination of DMSO and acetone. Surprisingly, this led to colour transformation, changing the white gel into a brown gel.…”