Department of Bioengineering and Nano-Bioengineering, Incheon National University, Incheon, Republic of Korea.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2020;1250:63-78. doi: 10.1007/978-981-15-3262-7_5.
Engineered polymeric hydrogels have been extensively utilized in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine because of their biocompatibility, tunable properties, and structural similarity in their native extracellular microenvironment. The native extracellular matrix (ECM) has been implicated as a crucial factor in the regulation of cellular behaviors and their fate. The emerging trend in the design of hydrogels involves the development of advanced materials to precisely recapitulate the native ECM or to stimulate the surrounding tissues via physical, chemical, or biological stimuli. The ECM presents various parameters such as ECM components, soluble factors, cell-to-cell and cell-to-matrix interactions, physical forces, and physicochemical environments. Among these environmental factors, oxygen is considered as an essential signaling molecule. In particular, abnormal oxygen tension such as a lack of oxygen (defined as hypoxia) and an excess supply of oxygen (defined as hyperoxia) plays a pivotal role during early vascular development, tissue regeneration and repair, and tumor progression and metastasis. In this chapter, we discuss how engineered polymeric hydrogels serve as either an artificial extracellular microenvironment to create engineered tissues or as an acellular matrix to stimulate the native tissues for a wide range of biomedical applications including tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, wound healing, and engineered disease models. Specifically, we focus on emerging technologies to create advanced polymeric hydrogel materials that accurately mimic or stimulate the native ECM.
工程聚合物水凝胶由于其生物相容性、可调性质和与天然细胞外微环境相似的结构，已被广泛应用于组织工程和再生医学。天然细胞外基质 (ECM) 被认为是调节细胞行为及其命运的关键因素。水凝胶设计的新兴趋势涉及开发先进材料，以精确模拟天然 ECM 或通过物理、化学或生物刺激来刺激周围组织。ECM 呈现出各种参数，如 ECM 成分、可溶性因子、细胞间和细胞与基质的相互作用、物理力和物理化学环境。在这些环境因素中，氧气被认为是一种必需的信号分子。特别是，早期血管发育、组织再生和修复以及肿瘤进展和转移过程中，缺氧（定义为缺氧）和氧气过量供应（定义为高氧）等异常氧张力起着关键作用。在本章中，我们讨论了工程聚合物水凝胶如何作为人工细胞外微环境来构建工程组织，或作为无细胞基质来刺激天然组织，用于广泛的生物医学应用，包括组织工程和再生医学、伤口愈合和工程疾病模型。具体来说，我们专注于创建能够精确模拟或刺激天然 ECM 的先进聚合物水凝胶材料的新兴技术。
