Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 3
Synthesis of
a
difunctional polycaprolactone initiator and
b
hydrogel polymers by ATRP.
Reproduced with permission [
78
]. Copyright 2011 Elsevier
3.3 Composite Hydrogels and Hybrids
Organic-inorganic hybrid hydrogels may be defined as a water-swollen cross-
linked polymer network impregnated with inorganic particles or nanostructures.
While these materials have not been explored for stem cell culture, the presence of
inorganic materials adds new properties to the hydrogel through different interac-
tions when they are entrapped within the hydrogel network. Such nanocompos-
ite structures have found applications in the areas of catalysis, stimuli-responsive
drug release, biosensors, anti-bacterial, SERS, and many other technological areas
[
91
]. The addition of these nanoparticles endow the one dimensional hydrogel
with additional features for sensing and delivery applications.
Stimuli-responsive polymers undergo significant and reversible conformational
changes in response to small changes in environmental conditions such as tempera-
ture, pH, light, ultrasound and magnetic fields. Hydrogels developed from those
stimuli-responsive polymers can potentially be used in drug delivery since they
are switchable and controllable in the transition from sol-gel states. This 'switch'
can be applied as trigger for programming release of encapsulated biomolecules.
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