An Overview of Injectable Thermo-Responsive Hydrogels and Advances in their Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Background: Injectable hydrogels are a thermo-responsive system based on biomaterials. Injectable hydrogels have been broadly investigated mainly as vehicles or scaffolds of therapeutic agents that include drugs, proteins, cells, and bioactive molecules among others, utilized in the treatment of diseases such as cancers and the repair and regeneration of tissues.

Results: There are several studies that have described the multiple features of hydrogels. However, the main aspect that breaks the paradigm in the application of hydrogels is the thermoresponsiveness that some of them have, which is an abrupt modification in their properties in response to small variations in temperature. For that reason, the thermo-responsive hydrogels with the unique property of sol-gel transition have received special attention over the past decades. These hydrogels show phase transition near physiological human body temperature. This feature is key for being applied in promising areas of human health-related research.

Conclusion: The purpose of this study is the overview of injectable hydrogels and their latest advances in medical applications including bioactive compound delivery, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine.

Keywords: Thermo responsive hydrogels; biomaterials; drug delivery; injectable hydrogels; regenerative medicine; sol-gel transition; tissue engineering.