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Biomaterials Translational ›› 2024, Vol. 5 ›› Issue (3): 257-273.doi: 10.12336/biomatertransl.2024.03.004

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Stimuli-responsive hydrogels for bone tissue engineering

Congyang Xue1,2,#, Liping Chen1,3,#, Nan Wang1, Heng Chen1, Wenqiang Xu1,3, Zhipeng Xi1,3, Qing Sun4, Ran Kang1,3,*(), Lin Xie1,3,*(), Xin Liu1,2,3,*()   

  1. 1 Department of Orthopaedics, Affiliated Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
    2 The Third Clinical Medical College, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
    3 Jiangsu Province Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
    4 Laboratory of Gene Therapy, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Abstract:

The treatment of bone defects remains a great clinical challenge. With the development of science and technology, bone tissue engineering technology has emerged, which can mimic the structure and function of natural bone tissues and create solutions for repairing or replacing human bone tissues based on biocompatible materials, cells and bioactive factors. Hydrogels are favoured by researchers due to their high water content, degradability and good biocompatibility. This paper describes the hydrogel sources, roles and applications. According to the different types of stimuli, hydrogels are classified into three categories: physical, chemical and biochemical responses, and the applications of different stimuli-responsive hydrogels in bone tissue engineering are summarised. Stimuli-responsive hydrogels can form a semi-solid with good adhesion based on different physiological environments, which can carry a variety of bone-enhancing bioactive factors, drugs and cells, and have a long retention time in the local area, which is conducive to a long period of controlled release; they can also form a scaffold for constructing tissue repair, which can jointly promote the repair of bone injury sites. However, it also has many defects, such as poor biocompatibility, immunogenicity and mechanical stability. Further studies are still needed in the future to facilitate its clinical translation.

Key words: bone tissue engineering, drug carrier, hydrogels, stimuli-responsive