Fabrication of Hydrogel Materials for Biomedical Applications

Hydrogels are three-dimensional hydrophilic polymeric networks that can be made from a wide range of natural and synthetic polymers. This review discusses recent advanced engineering methods to fabricate hydrogels for biomedical applications with emphasis in cardiac constructs and wound healing. Layer-by-Layer (LbL) assembly offers a tissue-engineered construct with robust and highly ordered structures for cell proliferation and differentiation. Three-dimensional printings, including inkjet printing, fused deposition modeling, and stereolithographic apparatus, have been widely employed to fabricate complex structures (e.g., heart valves). Moreover, the state-of-the-art design of intelligent/stimulus-responsive hydrogels can be used for a wide range of biomedical applications, including drug delivery, glucose delivery, shape memory, wound dressings, and so on. In the future, an increasing number of hydrogels with tunable mechanical properties and versatile functions will be developed for biomedical applications by employing advanced engineering techniques with novel material design.