Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) not only serves as the material basis of biological inheritance, but also shows great potential in the development of novel biological materials due to its programmability, functional diversity, biocompatibility and biodegradability. DNA hydrogel is a three-dimensional mesh polymer material mainly formed by DNA. It has become one of the most interesting emerging functional polymer materials in recent years because of the perfect combination of the DNA biological properties that it retained and the mechanical properties of its own skeleton. At present, single- or multi-component DNA hydrogels developed based on various functional nucleic acid sequences or by combining different functional materials have been widely used in the field of biomedicine, molecular detection, and environmental protection. In this paper, the development of preparation methods and classification strategies of DNA hydrogels are summarized, and the applications of DNA hydrogels in drug delivery, biosensing and cell culture are also reviewed. Finally, the future development direction and potential challenges of DNA hydrogels are prospected.
Keywords: biosensing; cell culture; drug delivery; multi-component DNA hydrogels; single-component DNA hydrogels.