Ju Xiao-Jie, Xie Rui, Yang Lihua, Chu Liang-Yin
Sichuan University, School of Chemical Engineering, Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, China.
Expert Opin Ther Pat. 2009 May;19(5):683-96. doi: 10.1517/13543770902769617.
Biodegradable stimuli-responsive materials, which exhibit large and sharp physical-chemical changes in response to small physical or chemical stimuli, are attracting increasing interests because of their potential applications in biomedical fields, such as transient implants, drug delivery carriers, and tissue engineering scaffolds. Our previous review (see page 493 of issue 4) summarized those biodegradable 'intelligent' materials that respond to physical stimuli, such as temperature, ultrasound, and magnetic field. Biodegradable 'intelligent' materials that could respond to chemical stimuli, such as pH and specific molecules, have also been studied intensively and significant progress in this field has been achieved. As a single stimulus-responsive property would limit practical application, multi-stimuli-responsive materials are receiving increasing interest and considerable attention.
OBJECTIVE/METHODS: This review summarizes the development of biodegradable 'intelligent' materials in response to chemical stimuli and to dual stimuli; their potential biomedical applications are also introduced. A detailed analysis of publications and patents on such materials in recent years is presented.
RESULTS/CONCLUSION: Most of biodegradable stimuli-responsive materials are currently still at a developmental research stage. Further work is required to improve the responsive properties between the materials and the biological environments, so that the clinical applicability of such devices could be successful. We hope that our review will be helpful in the future development of new stimuli-responsive biodegradable polymers or polymeric systems that can be used reliably in real-life applications.
可生物降解的刺激响应材料能够在受到微小物理或化学刺激时发生显著而急剧的物理化学变化，因其在生物医学领域的潜在应用，如瞬态植入物、药物递送载体和组织工程支架等，正吸引着越来越多的关注。我们之前的综述（见第4期第493页）总结了那些对温度、超声和磁场等物理刺激有响应的可生物降解“智能”材料。对pH值和特定分子等化学刺激有响应的可生物降解“智能”材料也得到了深入研究，并在该领域取得了显著进展。由于单一刺激响应特性会限制实际应用，多刺激响应材料正受到越来越多的关注。
目的/方法：本综述总结了可生物降解“智能”材料对化学刺激和双刺激的响应的发展情况；还介绍了它们在生物医学方面的潜在应用。对近年来关于此类材料的出版物和专利进行了详细分析。
结果/结论：目前大多数可生物降解的刺激响应材料仍处于研发阶段。需要进一步开展工作来改善材料与生物环境之间的响应特性，以使此类装置的临床适用性能够成功实现。我们希望我们的综述将有助于新型刺激响应可生物降解聚合物或聚合物体系的未来发展，使其能够在实际应用中可靠使用。
