Injectable hydrogels as unique biomedical materials
Abstract
A concentrated fish soup could be gelled in the winter and re-solled upon heating. In contrast, some synthetic copolymers exhibit an inverse sol-gel transition with spontaneous physical gelation upon heating instead of cooling. If the transition in water takes place below the body temperature and the chemicals are biocompatible and biodegradable, such gelling behavior makes the associated physical gels injectable biomaterials with unique applications in drug delivery and tissue engineering etc. Various therapeutic agents or cells can be entrapped in situ and form a depot merely by a syringe injection of their aqueous solutions at target sites with minimal invasiveness and pain. This tutorial review summarizes and comments on this soft matter, especially thermogelling poly(ethylene glycol)-(biodegradable polyester) block copolymers. The main types of injectable hydrogels are also briefly introduced, including both physical gels and chemical gels.
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In situ injectable hydrogels utilize the sol-gel transition process to achieve a minimally invasive way of application.
“Different from preformed hydrogels, in situ injectable hydrogels utilize the sol–gel transition process to achieve a minimally invasive way of application [30].”
From Mussel-Inspired Injectable Adhesive Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications (2024) · cites this paper as [30]
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- Authors
- Yu, L., & Ding, J.
- Affiliations
- Fudan University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Ding, Jiandong
- Venue
- Chemical Society Reviews
- Publisher
- Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)
- Published
- 2008
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 8
- Pages
- 1473
- ISSN
- 0306-0012 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-4744
- OpenAlex
- W2060835907
- Cited by
- 1,545
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 42 · 2025: 53 · 2024: 67 · 2023: 72 · 2022: 92 · 2021: 100 · 2020: 102 · 2019: 113 · 2018: 97 · 2017: 108 · 2016: 108 · 2015: 97 · 2014: 106 · 2013: 100 · 2012: 107
- FWCI
- 3.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Chemical Society Reviews (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Medicine › Hydrogels: synthesis, properties, applications
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Biomaterials › Supramolecular Self-Assembly in Materials
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Block Copolymer Self-Assembly
- Keywords
- injectable hydrogel, thermogelling polymers, sol-gel transition, physical gels, chemical gels, drug delivery, tissue engineering, biodegradable polymers, soft matter
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Biomedical and Dental Materials, Cross-Linking Reagents, Injections, Temperature, Hydrogels, Phase Transition
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