Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 9
HYALURONAN-BASED HYDROGEL
SCAFFOLDS
Insup Noh
Department of Chemical Engineering,
Seoul National University of Science and Technology,
138 Gongnung-gil, Nowon-gu, Seoul 139-743
Republic of Korea
insup@seoultech.ac.kr
Hyaluronic acid (HA)-based hydrogels have many promising
potential applications in tissue engineering and other medical
devices such as implants and drug/cell carriers due to their
outstanding biological and chemical properties. This chapter
discusses the biology and chemistry of HA and its chemical
derivertization, fabrication methods of HA hydrogels, and the
potentialapplicationsofHAhydrogelsasascaffoldfortissueengi-
neering and asa carrier for cell delivery and pharmaceuticals.
9.1 Introduction
A hydrogel is a three-dimensional, hydrophilic, polymeric network
containing large amounts of water or biological fluids. 1 Since the
introduction of hydrogels as soft contact lenses, 2 their applications
 
 
 
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