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Biopolymeric In Situ Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering and Bioimaging Applications

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  • Published:
Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Aims and scope

Abstract

Background:

Biopolymeric in situ hydrogels play a crucial role in the regenerative repair and replacement of infected or injured tissue. They possess excellent biodegradability and biocompatibility in the biological system, however only a few biopolymeric in situ hydrogels have been approved clinically. Researchers have been investigating new advancements and designs to restore tissue functions and structure, and these studies involve a composite of biometrics, cells and a combination of factors that can repair or regenerate damaged tissue.

Methods:

Injectable hydrogels, cross-linking mechanisms, bioactive materials for injectable hydrogels, clinically applied injectable biopolymeric hydrogels and the bioimaging applications of hydrogels were reviewed.

Results:

This article reviews the different types of biopolymeric injectable hydrogels, their gelation mechanisms, tissue engineering, clinical applications and their various in situ imaging techniques.

Conclusion:

The applications of bioactive injectable hydrogels and their bioimaging are a promising area in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. There is a high demand for injectable hydrogels for in situ imaging.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the Basic Science Research Program (No. 2016R1A2B4011184 and 2017R1C1B1003830) and the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program (NRF-2017M3A9E2056374) through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Korean government, MSIP. IKP also acknowledges the financial support from a grant (HCRI 17901-22) Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital Institute for Biomedical Science.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chonnam National University, Chonnam National University Medical School, 160 Baekseo-ro, Dong-gu, Gwangju, 61469, Republic of Korea

    Adonijah Graham Sontyana, Ansuja Pulickal Mathew & In-Kyu Park

  2. Department of Plastic Surgery, Cleveland Clinic, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH, 44195, USA

    Ki-Hyun Cho

  3. Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Chungnam National University, 99 Daehak-Ro, Yuseong-Gu, Daejeon, 34134, Republic of Korea

    Saji Uthaman

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  1. Adonijah Graham Sontyana
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  2. Ansuja Pulickal Mathew
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  4. Saji Uthaman
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Correspondence to Saji Uthaman or In-Kyu Park.

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Sontyana, A.G., Mathew, A.P., Cho, KH. et al. Biopolymeric In Situ Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering and Bioimaging Applications. Tissue Eng Regen Med 15, 575–590 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13770-018-0159-1

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