Shape-changing polymers for biomedical applications

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (10) ◽  
pp. 1597-1624 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alina Kirillova ◽  
Leonid Ionov

Smart polymers that are capable of controlled shape transformations under external stimuli have attracted significant attention in the recent years due to the resemblance of this behavior to the biological intelligence observed in nature. In this review, we focus on the recent progress in the field of shape-morphing polymers, highlighting their most promising applications in the biomedical field.

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (139) ◽  
pp. 20180062 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akhilesh Kumar Shakya ◽  
Kutty Selva Nandakumar

Recently, smart biocatalysts, where enzymes are conjugated to stimuli-responsive (smart) polymers, have gained significant attention. Based on the presence or absence of external stimuli, the polymer attached to the enzyme changes its conformation to protect the enzyme from the external environment and regulate the enzyme activity, thus acting as a molecular switch. Owing to this behaviour, smart biocatalysts can be separated easily from a reaction mixture and re-used several times. Several such smart polymer-based biocatalysts have been developed for industrial and biomedical applications. In addition, they have been used in biosensors, biometrics and nano-electronic devices. This review article covers recent advances in developing different kinds of stimuli-responsive enzyme bioconjugates, including conjugation strategies, and their applications.


DYNA ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 85 (207) ◽  
pp. 29-35
Author(s):  
Claudia Milena Bedoya-Hincapié ◽  
Elisabeth Restrepo-Parra ◽  
Luis Demetrio López-Carreño

The potential of nanotechnology in the biomedical field has been crucial for contributing to the possibility of efficiently meeting present necessities with novel materials. Over the last few decades, nanostructures with a core/shell structure have attracted significant attention because of the possibility of changing their physical properties by varying their chemistry and geometry. These structures have become relevant in targeted therapy (drug delivery and treatments to complement chemotherapy and radiotherapy), imaging and in the stimulation of cellular functions. Thus in this paper the current development of core/shell nanostructures is reviewed, emphasizing the physical properties of those that have been proposed as potentially having biomedical applications, which are based in a magnetic behavior or in a mixture of magnetic and electric (multiferroic) phenomena.


RSC Advances ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (61) ◽  
pp. 37116-37133
Author(s):  
Mina Shaban ◽  
Mohammad Hasanzadeh

Dendritic fibrous nanosilica (DFNS) , with multi-component and hierarchically complex structures, has recently been receiving significant attention in various fields of nano-biomedicine.


Author(s):  
Gore S. A. ◽  
Gholve S. B. ◽  
Savalsure S. M. ◽  
Ghodake K. B. ◽  
Bhusnure O. G. ◽  
...  

Smart polymers are materials that respond to small external stimuli. These are also referred as stimuli responsive materials or intelligent materials. Smart polymers that can exhibit stimuli-sensitive properties are becoming important in many commercial applications. These polymers can change shape, strength and pore size based on external factors such as temperature, pH and stress. The stimuli include salt, UV irradiation, temperature, pH, magnetic or electric field, ionic factors etc. Smart polymers are very promising applicants in drug delivery, tissue engineering, cell culture, gene carriers, textile engineering, oil recovery, radioactive wastage and protein purification. The study is focused on the entire features of smart polymers and their most recent and relevant applications. Water soluble polymers with tunable lower critical solution temperature (LCST) are of increasing interest for biological applications such as cell patterning, smart drug release, DNA sequencing etc.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 1631
Author(s):  
Mariangela Guastaferro ◽  
Ernesto Reverchon ◽  
Lucia Baldino

A comparative analysis concerning bio-based gels production, to be used for tissue regeneration, has been performed in this review. These gels are generally applied as scaffolds in the biomedical field, thanks to their morphology, low cytotoxicity, and high biocompatibility. Focusing on the time interval 2015–2020, the production of 3D scaffolds of alginate, chitosan and agarose, for skin and bone regeneration, has mainly been investigated. Traditional techniques are critically reviewed to understand their limitations and how supercritical CO2-assisted processes could overcome these drawbacks. In particular, even if freeze-drying represents the most widespread drying technique used to produce polysaccharide-based cryogels, supercritical CO2-assisted drying effectively allows preservation of the nanoporous aerogel structure and removes the organic solvent used for gel preparation. These characteristics are essential for cell adhesion and proliferation.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 906
Author(s):  
Le Minh Tu Phan ◽  
Thuy Anh Thu Vo ◽  
Thi Xoan Hoang ◽  
Sungbo Cho

Recently, photothermal therapy (PTT) has emerged as one of the most promising biomedical strategies for different areas in the biomedical field owing to its superior advantages, such as being noninvasive, target-specific and having fewer side effects. Graphene-based hydrogels (GGels), which have excellent mechanical and optical properties, high light-to-heat conversion efficiency and good biocompatibility, have been intensively exploited as potential photothermal conversion materials. This comprehensive review summarizes the current development of graphene-integrated hydrogel composites and their application in photothermal biomedicine. The latest advances in the synthesis strategies, unique properties and potential applications of photothermal-responsive GGel nanocomposites in biomedical fields are introduced in detail. This review aims to provide a better understanding of the current progress in GGel material fabrication, photothermal properties and potential PTT-based biomedical applications, thereby aiding in more research efforts to facilitate the further advancement of photothermal biomedicine.


Author(s):  
Deming He ◽  
Minmin Yan ◽  
Pengjuan Sun ◽  
Yuanqiang Sun ◽  
Lingbo Qu ◽  
...  

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Fu ◽  
Lei Yang ◽  
Jianhua Zhang ◽  
Junfei Hu ◽  
Gaigai Duan ◽  
...  

This review focuses on the recent progress in polydopamine antibacterial materials, including their structural and functional features, preparation strategies, antibacterial mechanisms, and their biomedical applications.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (11) ◽  
pp. 3140
Author(s):  
Rocco Giordano ◽  
Zeinab Saii ◽  
Malthe Fredsgaard ◽  
Laura Sini Sofia Hulkko ◽  
Thomas Bouet Guldbæk Poulsen ◽  
...  

The pharmacological activities in bioactive plant extracts play an increasing role in sustainable resources for valorization and biomedical applications. Bioactive phytochemicals, including natural compounds, secondary metabolites and their derivatives, have attracted significant attention for use in both medicinal products and cosmetic products. Our review highlights the pharmacological mode-of-action and current biomedical applications of key bioactive compounds applied as anti-inflammatory, bactericidal with antibiotics effects, and pain relief purposes in controlled clinical studies or preclinical studies. In this systematic review, the availability of bioactive compounds from several salt-tolerant plant species, mainly focusing on the three promising species Aster tripolium, Crithmum maritimum and Salicornia europaea, are summarized and discussed. All three of them have been widely used in natural folk medicines and are now in the focus for future nutraceutical and pharmacological applications.


Macromol ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-172
Author(s):  
Aristeidis Papagiannopoulos

Polyelectrolytes have been at the center of interdisciplinary research for many decades. In the field of polymer science and soft matter, they have provided the dimensions of electrostatic interactions, which opens a vast variety of opportunities for new physical properties and applications. In biological matter, polyelectrolytes are present in many forms, from extracellular polysaccharides to complex DNA molecules and proteins. This review discusses the recent research on polyelectrolytes covering the fundamental level of their conformations and nanostructures, their molecular interactions with materials that have close relevance to bioapplications and their applications in the biomedical field. This approach is motivated by the fact that the polyelectrolyte research is constantly active in all the aforementioned levels and continually affects many critical scientific areas.


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