Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
inherent advantages of HBPs. All the above efforts are a prerequisite for the
wide applications of these polymeric materials. It should be particularly
mentioned that biomedical application in drug or gene delivery is one of the
most promising research fields. The functionalization of HBPs paves the
effective path for smart delivery systems by granting them responsiveness,
targeting, biodegradability, imaging, etc. With the assistance of the delivery
systems of the functional HBP self-assemblies, the cargoes can be successfully
transported with auxiliary functionalities like long circulation times, specific
accumulation at the targeted tissues, stimuli-responsive release, reduction of
cytotoxicity, and in vivo diagnosis. The excellent results shed light on the
feasibility of functional HBPs as a robust tool for smart delivery systems.
However, there still exist certain controversial issues to be solved in the HBP-
based vehicles. For example, the precise architectural controllability, the
exploitation of new smart components, and the compatibility of versatile
modified functional components with HBPs all need improving. Therefore, it is
imperative that controlled synthetic approaches and better ligating methods of
HBPs should be discovered. Despite the existing problems of functional HBP-
based delivery systems for drugs and genes, they are certainly one of the most
promising smart materials in the biomedical applications due to their intrinsic
attributions.
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Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the National Basic Research Program
(2009CB930400, 2012CB821500) and National Natural Science Foundation of
China (20974062), and the China National Funds for Distinguished Young
Scientists (21025417).
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