Structural Design and Physicochemical Foundations of Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Biomedical research, known as medical research, is conducive to support and promote the development of knowledge in the field of medicine. Hydrogels have been extensively used in many biomedical fields due to their highly absorbent and flexible properties. The smart hydrogels, especially, can respond to a broad range of external stimuli such as temperature, pH value, light, electric and magnetic fields. With excellent biocompatibility, tunable rheology, mechanical properties, porosity, and hydrated molecular structure, hydrogels are considered as promising candidate for simulating local tissue microenvironment. In this review article, we mainly focused on the most recent development of engineering synthetic hydrogels; moreover, the classification, properties, especially the biomedical applications including tissue engineering and cell scaffolding, drug and gene delivery, immunotherapies and vaccines, are summarized and discussed.

Keywords: Hydrogels; biomedical applications; drug delivery; immunotherapies; tissue engineering; vaccines.