Hydrogels from Biopolymer Hybrid for Biomedical, Food, and Functional Food Applications

Polymers

Lin Shu Liu²  Joseph Kost¹  Fang Yan³ 

[1] Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, 84105, Israel;;Eastern Regional Research Center, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 600 East Mermaid Lane, Wyndmoor, PA 19038, USASchool of Medicine, Vanderbilt University, 2215 Garland Avenue, MRB IV 1035J, Nashville, TN 37232, USA;

关键词: hydrogel;    biopolymer;    hybrid;    controlled drug delivery;    tissue engineering;    functional food;   

DOI  :  10.3390/polym4020997

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Hybrid hydrogels from biopolymers have been applied for various indications across a wide range of biomedical, pharmaceutical, and functional food industries. In particular, hybrid hydrogels synthesized from two biopolymers have attracted increasing attention. The inclusion of a second biopolymer strengthens the stability of resultant hydrogels and enriches its functionalities by bringing in new functional groups or optimizing the micro-environmental conditions for certain biological and biochemical processes. This article presents approaches that have been used by our groups to synthesize biopolymer hybrid hydrogels for effective uses for immunotherapy, tissue regeneration, food and functional food applications. The research has achieved some challenging results, such as stabilizing physical structure, increasing mucoadhesiveness, and the creation of an artificial extracellular matrix to aid in guiding tissue differentiation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2012 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.