Hydrogels in Biology and Medicine
A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomaterials".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 January 2022) | Viewed by 12540
Special Issue Editors
Interests: gels; pharmaceutical technology; mucoadhesion; nanotechnology; drug delivery
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: gels; cosmetic technology; cosmetic chemistry; green chemistry; green extractions
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Hydrogels are ordered three-dimensional cross-linked systems formed by polymeric chains embedded in a water-rich environment. They are composed of hydrophilic homopolymers or copolymers, which may absorb from 10–20% up to thousands of times their dry weight in water.
A great variety of naturally derived and synthetic polymers can be processed into hydrogels. For this reason, they can be classified, depending on the polymer origin, as natural, synthetic, and hybrid gels.
They can also be divided into two groups according to the nature of the formation mechanisms of the three-dimensional network (physical and chemical gelation).
The majority of the physical gelation methods (molecular entanglement, ionic interaction, and hydrogen-bonding among the polymeric chains) depend on the intrinsic properties of the polymers. This dependence limits the ability to fine-tune the attributes of hydrogels, but gelation is easy to achieve without the need for modifying polymer chains and it is usually easy to reverse when necessary. Examples of this group include poly(vinyl alcohol), gelatin, chitosan, alginate, and agar–agar hydrogels.
Chemical approaches can be used to allow for more controllable, precise management of the cross-linking procedure, potentially in a spatially and dynamically defined manner. Permanent hydrogels are obtained with covalent chemical bondings, for example, poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (pHEMA).
The versatility of the hydrogel system has endowed it with widespread applications in various fields.
The history of hydrogels for biomedical applications dates back to 1960, when O. Wichterle and D. Lim obtained the 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA)-based hydrogel, which was used for the production of soft contact lenses.
Since then, hydrogels have been used as systems for drug controlled delivery, to facilitate the localized, sustained, and prolonged release of a drug, thereby decreasing the number of administrations, avoiding side effects and following low doses.
Advances in chemical methods—such as click chemistry, combination of gelation mechanisms, and doping with nanomaterials—have produced hydrogels with more controlled physicochemical properties.
Hydrogels based on both natural and synthetic polymers have continued to be of interest for cell encapsulation and most recently they have become especially attractive to the new field of ‘tissue engineering’ as matrices for repairing and regenerating a wide variety of tissues and organs.
It is our pleasure to invite you to submit a manuscript for this Special Issue. Full papers, communications, and reviews are all welcome.
Prof. Eleonora RussoProf. Carla Villa
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. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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
- Polymeric hydrogel
- drug delivery
- physical interactions
- biomedical
- natural and synthetic polymer
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.