Polymeric Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering

Polymeric hydrogels are gaining attention in the field of tissue engineering due to their structural resemblance to the macromolecular-based extracellular matrix components. Hydrogels are hydrophilic polymeric materials that have high water content. They can be classified as natural or synthetic depending on their origin. Natural hydrogels, such as collagen, gelatin, chitosan, elastin, hyaluronic acid, and alginate, are biodegradable and can regulate cell-signaling pathways. Synthetic hydrogels, such as polyethylene glycol (PEG), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and polyacrylamide (PAAm), can be tailored to have specific mechanical and chemical properties. Hydrogels have huge potential to be used as an alternative to conventional invasive scaffold delivery. They can be used as scaffolds for tissue engineering, which gives information to recognize the interaction between cells or tissues with scaffold formation or regeneration of tissue or organ and their cellular responses. Hydrogels can also be used to deliver drugs, growth factors, and cytokines to enhance wound healing. Recent advances in polymer chemistry, nanomaterials, molecular biology, and microscale technologies have enabled bioengineers and scientists to design multifunctional hydrogels that will play an important role in tissue regeneration. Hydrogels could play an important role in the fabrication of functional tissues for regenerative medicine. They have been used for the deposition of electrochemically grown conducting polymer polypyrrole (PPy) onto the surface of micro-fabricated neural prosthetic. Sericin hydrogels have been shown to promote skin wound healing with effective regeneration of hair follicles and sebaceous glands after complete loss of epidermis and dermis. Injectable biodegradable hydrogels composed of hyaluronic acid-tyramine conjugates have been developed for drug delivery and tissue engineering

Keywords:

smart hydrogel , stimuli responsive , nanomaterials , tissue engineering