Polymeric Supramolecular Hydrogels as Materials for Medicine - In-Situ Gelling Polymers: For Biomedical Applications - page 173

Fig. 20 Comparison of the
release of ibuprofen ( IBF )
from tablets composed of a
granular mixture of freeze-
dried polymers (phys. mix.;
squares ) or freeze-dried
polyionic complex (IPEC;
triangles and diamonds ).
Reprinted from Cukierman
et al. [ 159 ]. Copyright 2009
Elsevier
5 Conclusion and Outlook
The recent research in the field of supramolecular polymeric hydrogels is diverse;
thus, the eight examples discussed in this chapter represent only a small view on the
plethora of these advanced functional materials. All of the selected examples exhibit
tunable physicochemical properties that allow for adjustment towards targeted appli-
cations in the biomedical field. This tunability permits the gels to have more than just
one application in this area. For example, the chitosan and xanthan based hydrogels
introduced and investigated by Dumitriu and coworkers have found several possible
applications over the past years, including protein immobilization, tissue engineering,
drug delivery, and dermocosmetics, and three related patents were claimed [ 139 , 140 ,
162 ]. Because of this adaptability towards target applications, supramolecular poly-
meric hydrogels will most likely have a bright future as materials for medicine.
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