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  • Focus Review
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Advances in injectable hydrogels with biological and physicochemical functions for cell delivery

Polymer Journal (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Injectable hydrogels that can be administered via syringes have enormous potential as cell delivery carriers for cell transplantation therapy. Owing to their beneficial properties, including biocompatibility, biodegradability, tissue adhesion, and scaffold functions, injectable hydrogels can be used to improve the delivery efficacy and survival of transplanted cells posttransplantation. Moreover, delivery via injection does not require culture or invasive surgical procedures, leading to reduced costs, processing time, and patient burden. To develop injectable hydrogels for clinical translation, hydrogels have been functionalized using various biological and physicochemical engineering approaches to induce angiogenesis, suppress immune rejection, provide viscoelasticity, and allow pore formation for cell infiltration. This focus review discusses the design of optimal injectable hydrogels for cell delivery. Moreover, this focus review summarizes the different approaches available to improve the biological and physicochemical features of hydrogels, lists their impacts on cellular functions, and highlights their therapeutic efficacy.

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Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Dr. Tetsushi Taguchi (National Institute for Materials Science) and my group members for their assistance with this work. This work was partly supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI (grant nos. 22H03962 and 23K25216), the Uehara Memorial Foundation, Medical Technology from the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, and Inamori Research Grants from the Inamori Foundation.

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  1. Biomaterials Field, Research Center for Macromolecules and Biomaterials, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0044, Japan

    Akihiro Nishiguchi

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Nishiguchi, A. Advances in injectable hydrogels with biological and physicochemical functions for cell delivery. Polym J (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-024-00934-5

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