Peters Jonathan T, Wechsler Marissa E, Peppas Nicholas A
McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, 200 E. Dean Keeton, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
Institute for Biomaterials, Drug Delivery, and Regenerative Medicine, The University of Texas at Austin, 107 W. Dean Keeton, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
Regen Biomater. 2021 Nov 9;8(6):rbab060. doi: 10.1093/rb/rbab060. eCollection 2021 Dec.
Hydrogels are cross-linked polymeric networks swollen in water, physiological aqueous solutions or biological fluids. They are synthesized by a wide range of polymerization methods that allow for the introduction of linear and branched units with specific molecular characteristics. In addition, they can be tuned to exhibit desirable chemical characteristics including hydrophilicity or hydrophobicity. The synthesized hydrogels can be anionic, cationic, or amphiphilic and can contain multifunctional cross-links, junctions or tie points. Beyond these characteristics, hydrogels exhibit compatibility with biological systems, and can be synthesized to render systems that swell or collapse in response to external stimuli. This versatility and compatibility have led to better understanding of how the hydrogel's molecular architecture will affect their physicochemical, mechanical and biological properties. We present a critical summary of the main methods to synthesize hydrogels, which define their architecture, and advanced structural characteristics for macromolecular/biological applications.
水凝胶是在水、生理水溶液或生物流体中溶胀的交联聚合物网络。它们通过多种聚合方法合成，这些方法允许引入具有特定分子特征的线性和支化单元。此外，它们可以被调整以表现出理想的化学特性，包括亲水性或疏水性。合成的水凝胶可以是阴离子型、阳离子型或两亲性的，并且可以包含多功能交联、连接点或节点。除了这些特性外，水凝胶还表现出与生物系统的相容性，并且可以被合成以产生响应外部刺激而膨胀或塌陷的系统。这种多功能性和相容性使得人们对水凝胶的分子结构如何影响其物理化学、机械和生物学性质有了更好的理解。我们对合成水凝胶的主要方法进行了批判性总结，这些方法定义了它们的结构，以及用于大分子/生物应用的先进结构特征。
