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Gels
Special Issues
State-of-the-Art Hydrogel Research for Biomedical Applications
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State-of-the-Art Hydrogel Research for Biomedical Applications

A special issue of Gels (ISSN 2310-2861). This special issue belongs to the section "Gel Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 February 2024) | Viewed by 5761

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Cheng Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Pharmacy, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China
Interests: lipid nanoparticles; drug delivery; biomaterials; nanomedicine
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Pengfei Cui

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Pharmacy, Changzhou University, Changzhou 213164, China
Interests: gene delivery, nanomedicine, pharmacokinetics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Hydrogel represents a class of material capable of holding large amounts of water in their three-dimensional networks. The application of hydrogel has been widely studied in biomedical fields, in which hydrogels are used as delivery carriers for various substances ranging from small molecules to cells, substrates for cell culture, biocompatible scaffolds for tissue engineering, etc. The successful practice of many commercial hydrogel-based products also highlights the suitability of hydrogel for biomedical applications. Owing to the quick advances and important role of hydrogel in biomaterials science, in this Special Issue, we aim to introduce the state of art hydrogel research for biomedical applications, which might satisfy the wide readership of Gels and give inspiration to peer researchers. The topic of this Special Issue includes, but is not limited to, the following subjects:

  • Novel preparation method of biomedical hydrogels;
  • Hydrogel systems with advanced functions;
  • Hydrogels for drug delivery, tissue engineering, etc;
  • Hydrogels in the management of different diseases;
  • Design principle and insights into the structure–function relationships of biomedical hydrogels.

Dr. Cheng Wang
Dr. Pengfei Cui
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Gels is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • hydrogel preparation
  • functional hydrogel
  • drug delivery
  • tissue engineering
  • cancer therapy
  • antibacterial
  • structure–function relationship

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 3312 KiB  
Article
PEG Gels Significantly Improve the Storage Stability of Nucleic Acid Preparations
by Pengfei Cui, Luping Ma, Pengju Jiang, Cheng Wang and Jianhao Wang
Gels 2022, 8(12), 819; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels8120819 - 12 Dec 2022
Viewed by 1488
Abstract
Currently, nucleic acid preparations have gained much attention due to their unique working principle and application value. However, as macromolecular drugs, nucleic acid preparations have complex construction and poor stability. The current methods to promote stability face problems such as high cost and [...] Read more.
Currently, nucleic acid preparations have gained much attention due to their unique working principle and application value. However, as macromolecular drugs, nucleic acid preparations have complex construction and poor stability. The current methods to promote stability face problems such as high cost and inconvenient operatios. In this study, the hydrophilic pharmaceutical excipient PEG was used to gelate nucleic acid preparations to avoid the random movements of liquid particles. The results showed that PEG gelation significantly improved the stability of PEI25K−based and liposome−based nucleic acid preparations, compared with nucleic acid preparations without PEG gelation. After being stored at 4 °C for 3 days, non−PEG gelled nucleic acid preparations almost lost transfection activity, while PEGylated preparations still maintained high transfection efficiency. Fluorescence experiments showed that this effect was caused by inhibiting particle aggregation. The method described in this study was simple and effective, and the materials used had good biocompatibility. It is believed that this study will contribute to the better development of gene therapy drugs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue State-of-the-Art Hydrogel Research for Biomedical Applications)
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10 pages, 3220 KiB  
Article
Rationally Designed Oral DOX Gels for Colon-Specific Administration
by Jie Li, Luping Ma, Cheng Wang, Pengju Jiang, Pengfei Cui and Jianhao Wang
Gels 2022, 8(12), 759; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels8120759 - 22 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1417
Abstract
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third leading cause of death from cancer in both men and women. Traditional CRC dosage forms deliver the drug to both desired and unwanted sites of drug action, resulting in a number of negative side effects. Chemotherapeutic and [...] Read more.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third leading cause of death from cancer in both men and women. Traditional CRC dosage forms deliver the drug to both desired and unwanted sites of drug action, resulting in a number of negative side effects. Chemotherapeutic and chemopreventive agents are being targeted and delivered directly to the colon and rectum using targeted oral drug delivery systems. The main challenge in successfully targeting drugs to the colon via the oral route is avoiding drug absorption/degradation in the stomach and small intestine before the dosage form reaches the colon. In this study, we employed biocompatible chalk to adsorb DOX, then mixed pectin and cross-linked with calcium ions to form PC–DOX gels. The presence of cross-linked pectin and chalk can provide dual protection for the drug, significantly reducing drug leakage in gastric acid. In vitro release results showed that the designed PC–DOX could achieve 68% colon delivery efficiency. In the simulated colon environment, the released semi-degradable chalk did not affect the uptake of doxorubicin by colon cancer cells. Finally, in vivo simulation experiments in mice showed that rationally designed PC–DOX could achieve the highest colonic delivery efficiency. Our strategy has great potential for application in the treatment of colon cancer. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue State-of-the-Art Hydrogel Research for Biomedical Applications)
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Review

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21 pages, 1463 KiB  
Review
Optimizing Delivery of Therapeutic Growth Factors for Bone and Cartilage Regeneration
by Eri Takematsu, Matthew Murphy, Sophia Hou, Holly Steininger, Alina Alam, Thomas H. Ambrosi and Charles K. F. Chan
Gels 2023, 9(5), 377; https://doi.org/10.3390/gels9050377 - 3 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2411
Abstract
Bone- and cartilage-related diseases, such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, affect millions of people worldwide, impairing their quality of life and increasing mortality. Osteoporosis significantly increases the bone fracture risk of the spine, hip, and wrist. For successful fracture treatment and to facilitate proper [...] Read more.
Bone- and cartilage-related diseases, such as osteoporosis and osteoarthritis, affect millions of people worldwide, impairing their quality of life and increasing mortality. Osteoporosis significantly increases the bone fracture risk of the spine, hip, and wrist. For successful fracture treatment and to facilitate proper healing in the most complicated cases, one of the most promising methods is to deliver a therapeutic protein to accelerate bone regeneration. Similarly, in the setting of osteoarthritis, where degraded cartilage does not regenerate, therapeutic proteins hold great promise to promote new cartilage formation. For both osteoporosis and osteoarthritis treatments, targeted delivery of therapeutic growth factors, with the aid of hydrogels, to bone and cartilage is a key to advance the field of regenerative medicine. In this review article, we propose five important aspects of therapeutic growth factor delivery for bone and cartilage regeneration: (1) protection of protein growth factors from physical and enzymatic degradation, (2) targeted growth factor delivery, (3) controlling GF release kinetics, (4) long-term stability of regenerated tissues, and (5) osteoimmunomodulatory effects of therapeutic growth factors and carriers/scaffolds. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue State-of-the-Art Hydrogel Research for Biomedical Applications)
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