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Antibacterial hydrogels, as an advanced approach, can create optimal conditions for wound healing, even in the fight against stubborn and difficult-to-treat wound infections. Interestingly, pH is an often neglected clinical parameter, although it has a significant impact on the wound healing process. At different stages of wound healing, the pH in the wound bed changes from slightly alkaline to neutral to acidic. To develop novel pH-sensitive antibacterial hydrogel dressings, Zn2+-loaded poly(2-hydroxyethyl acrylate/itaconic acid) hydrogels are synthesized. The hydrogels exhibit pH-sensitive swelling in the physiologically relevant pH range, with a pronounced swelling ability at neutral pH. The controlled release of Zn2+ occurs in a buffer of pH 7.40 at 37 °C. The liquid transport mechanism and release kinetics are evaluated using the specific kinetic models of Ritger-Peppas and Peppas-Sahlin. The effect of Zn2+ on structural, thermal, swelling, cytocompatibility, and antibacterial properties is evaluated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, swelling studies, MTT, and antibacterial tests. The hydrogels show excellent antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli. The research opens new perspectives for efficient wound healing management, and the extension of the study will be orchestrated by optimising the hydrogel composition to achieve improved performance.

Antibacterial hydrogels, as an advanced approach, can create optimal conditions for wound healing, even in the fight against stubborn and difficult-to-treat wound infections. Interestingly, pH is an often neglected clinical parameter, although it has a significant impact on the wound healing process. At different stages of wound healing, the pH in the wound bed changes from slightly alkaline to neutral to acidic. To develop novel pH-sensitive antibacterial hydrogel dressings, Zn2+-loaded poly(2-hydroxyethyl acrylate/itaconic acid) hydrogels were synthesized. The hydrogels exhibit pH-sensitive swelling in the physiologically relevant pH range, with a pronounced swelling ability at neutral pH. The controlled release of Zn2+ occurs in a buffer of pH 7.40 at 37°C. The liquid transport mechanism and release kinetics are evaluated using the specific kinetic models of Ritger-Peppas and Peppas-Sahlin. The effect of Zn2+ on structural, thermal, swelling, cytocompatibility, and antibacterial properties is evaluated by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, swelling studies, MTT, and antibacterial tests. The hydrogels show excellent antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli. The research opens new perspectives for efficient wound healing management, and the extension of the study will be orchestrated by optimising the hydrogel composition to achieve improved performance. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Alginate is a natural polymer of marine origin and, due to its exceptional properties, has great importance as an essential component for the preparation of hydrogels and scaffolds for biomedical applications. The design of biologically interactive hydrogels and scaffolds with advanced, expected and required properties are one of the key issues for successful outcomes in the healing of injured tissues. This review paper presents the multifunctional biomedical applications of alginate-based hydrogels and scaffolds in selected areas, highlighting the key effect of alginate and its influence on the essential properties of the selected biomedical applications. The first part covers scientific achievements for alginate in dermal tissue regeneration, drug delivery systems, cancer treatment, and antimicrobials. The second part is dedicated to our scientific results obtained for the research opus of hydrogel materials for scaffolds based on alginate in synergy with different materials (polymers and bioactive agents). Alginate has proved to be an exceptional polymer for combining with other naturally occurring and synthetic polymers, as well as loading bioactive therapeutic agents to achieve dermal, controlled drug delivery, cancer treatment, and antimicrobial purposes. Our research was based on combinations of alginate with gelatin, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, apatite, graphene oxide and iron(III) oxide, as well as curcumin and resveratrol as bioactive agents. Important features of the prepared scaffolds, such as morphology, porosity, absorption capacity, hydrophilicity, mechanical properties, in vitro degradation, and in vitro and in vivo biocompatibility, have shown favorable properties for the aforementioned applications, and alginate has been an important link in achieving these properties. Alginate, as a component of these systems, proved to be an indispensable factor and played an excellent “role” in the optimal adjustment of the tested properties. This study provide

The idea of this study was to create a new scaffolding system based on 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate, gelatin, and alginate that contains titanium(IV) oxide nanoparticles as a platform for the controlled release of the bioactive agent curcumin. The innovative strategy to develop hybrid scaffolds was the modified porogenation method. The effect of the scaffold composition on the chemical, morphology, porosity, mechanical, hydrophilicity, swelling, degradation, biocompatibility, loading, and release features of hybrid scaffolds was evaluated. A porous structure with interconnected pores in the range of 52.33–65.76%, favorable swelling capacity, fully hydrophilic surfaces, degradability to 45% for 6 months, curcumin loading efficiency above 96%, and favorable controlled release profiles were obtained. By applying four kinetic models of release, valuable parameters were obtained for the curcumin/PHEMA/gelatin/alginate/TiO2 release platform. Cytotoxicity test results depend on the composition of the scaffolds and showed satisfactory cell growth with visible cell accumulation on the hybrid surfaces. The constructed hybrid scaffolds have suitable high-performance properties, suggesting potential for further in vivo and clinical studies.

Scaffolding biomaterials are gaining great importance due to their beneficial properties for medical purposes. Targeted biomaterial engineering strategies through the synergy of different material types can be applied to design hybrid scaffolding biomaterials with advantageous properties for biomedical applications. In our research, a novel combination of the bioactive agent Manuka honey (MHo) with 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate/gelatin (HG) hydrogel scaffolds was created as an efficient bioactive platform for biomedical applications. The effects of Manuka honey content on structural characteristics, porosity, swelling performance, in vitro degradation, and in vitro biocompatibility (fibroblast and keratinocyte cell lines) of hybrid hydrogel scaffolds were studied using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, the gravimetric method, and in vitro MTT biocompatibility assays. The engineered hybrid hydrogel scaffolds show advantageous properties, including porosity in the range of 71.25% to 90.09%, specific pH- and temperature-dependent swelling performance, and convenient absorption capacity. In vitro degradation studies showed scaffold degradability ranging from 6.27% to 27.18% for four weeks. In vitro biocompatibility assays on healthy human fibroblast (MRC5 cells) and keratinocyte (HaCaT cells) cell lines by MTT tests showed that cell viability depends on the Manuka honey content loaded in the HG hydrogel scaffolds. A sample containing the highest Manuka honey content (30%) exhibited the best biocompatible properties. The obtained results reveal that the synergy of the bioactive agent, Manuka honey, with 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate/gelatin as hybrid hydrogel scaffolds has potential for biomedical purposes. By tuning the Manuka honey content in HG hydrogel scaffolds advantageous properties of hybrid scaffolds can be achieved for biomedical applications.

The design and use of new potent and specific antimicrobial systems are of crucial importance in the medical field. This will help relieve, fight, and eradicate infections and thus improve human health. The use of metals in various forms as antimicrobial therapeutics has been known since ancient times. In this sense, polymeric hydrogel matrices as multifunctional materials and in combination with various metal forms can be a great alternative to conventional treatments for infections. Hydrogels possess high hydrophilicity, specific three-dimensional networks, fine biocompatibility, and cell adhesion and are therefore suitable as materials for the loading of active antimicrobial agents and acting in antimicrobial areas. The biocompatible nature of hydrogels’ matrices makes them a convenient starting platform to develop biocompatible, selective, active controlled-release antimicrobial materials. Hydrogels based on acrylate and itaconic acid were synthesized and loaded with silver (Ag+ ), copper (Cu2+), and zinc (Zn2+) ions as a controlled release and antimicrobial system to test release properties and antimicrobial activity in contact with microbes. The metal ions/hydrogel systems exhibited favorable biocompatibility, release profiles, and antimicrobial activity against methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Candida albicans microbes, and have shown that they have the capacity to “fight” with the life-threatening infections. Antimicrobial activity depends on types of metal ions, the composition of polymeric matrices, as well as the types of microbes. Designed metal ions/poly(acrylate/itaconic acid) antimicrobial systems have shown to have good potential as antimicrobial therapeutics and suitable biomaterials for medical applications.

Our goal was to create bioimitated scaffolding materials for biomedical purposes. The guiding idea was that we used an interpenetrating structural hierarchy of natural extracellular matrix as a "pattern" to design hydrogel scaffolds that show favorable properties for tissue regeneration. Polymeric hydrogel scaffolds are made in a simple, environmentally friendly way without additional functionalization. Gelatin and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate were selected to prepare interpenetrating polymeric networks and linear alginate chains were added as an interpenetrant to study their influence on the scaffold's functionalities. Cryogelation and porogenation methods were used to obtain the designed scaffolding biomaterials. The scaffold's structural, morphological, and mechanical properties, in vitro degradation, and cell viability properties were assessed to study the effects of the preparation method and alginate loading. Apatite as an inorganic agent was incorporated into cryogelated scaffolds to perform an extensive biological assay. Cryogelated scaffolds possess superior functionalities essential for tissue regeneration: fully hydrophilicity, degradability and mechanical features (2.08-9.75 MPa), and an optimal LDH activity. Furthermore, cryogelated scaffolds loaded with apatite showed good cell adhesion capacity, biocompatibility, and non-toxic behavior. All scaffolds performed equally in terms of metabolic activity and osteoconductivity. Cryogelated scaffolds with/without HAp could represent a new advance to promote osteoconductivity and enhance hard tissue repair. The obtained series of scaffolding biomaterials described here can provide a wide range of potential applications in the area of biomedical engineering.

Scaffold hydrogel biomaterials designed to have advantageous biofunctional properties, which can be applied for controlled bioactive agent release, represent an important concept in biomedical tissue engineering. Our goal was to create scaffolding materials that mimic living tissue for biomedical utilization. In this study, two novel series of interpenetrating hydrogel networks (IPNs) based on 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate/gelatin and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate/alginate were crosslinked using N-ethyl-N′-(3-dimethyl aminopropyl)carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC) and N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS). Characterization included examining the effects of crosslinker type and concentration on structure, morphological and mechanical properties, in vitro swelling, hydrophilicity as well as on the in vitro cell viability (fibroblast cells) and in vivo (Caenorhabditis elegans) interactions of novel biomaterials. The engineered IPN hydrogel scaffolds show an interconnected pore morphology and porosity range of 62.36 to 85.20%, favorable in vitro swelling capacity, full hydrophilicity, and Young’s modulus values in the range of 1.40 to 7.50 MPa. In vitro assay on healthy human fibroblast (MRC5 cells) by MTT test and in vivo (Caenorhabditis elegans) survival assays show the advantageous biocompatible properties of novel IPN hydrogel scaffolds. Furthermore, in vitro controlled release study of the therapeutic agent resveratrol showed that these novel scaffolding systems are suitable controlled release platforms. The results revealed that the use of EDC and the combination of EDC/NHS crosslinkers can be applied to prepare and tune the properties of the IPN 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate/alginate and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate/gelatin hydrogel scaffolds series, which have shown great potential for biomedical engineering applications.

The design and evaluation of novel 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate/gelatin/alginate/graphene oxide hydrogels as innovative scaffolding biomaterials, which concurrently are the suitable drug delivery carrier, was proposed. The hydrogels were prepared by the adapted porogen leaching method; this is also the first time this method has been used to incorporate nanocolloidal graphene oxide through the hydrogel and simultaneously form porous structures. The effects of a material's composition on its chemical, morphological, mechanical, and swelling properties, as well as on cell viability and in vitro degradation, were assessed using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), measurements of Young's modulus, gravimetric method and MTT test, respectively. The engineered hydrogels show good swelling capacity, fully hydrophilic surfaces, tunable porosity (from 56 to 76%) and mechanical properties (from 1.69 to 4.78 MPa), curcumin entrapment efficiency above 99% and excellent curcumin release performances. In vitro cytotoxicity on healthy human fibroblast (MRC5 cells) by MTT test reveal that the materials are nontoxic and biocompatible, proposing novel hydrogels for in vivo clinical evaluation to optimize tissue regeneration treatments by coupling the hydrogels with cells and different active agents to create material/biofactor hybrids with new levels of biofunctionality.

New composite 3D scaffolds were developed as a combination of synthetic polymer, poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate) (PHEMA), and a natural polymer, gelatin, with a ceramic component, nanohydroxyapatite (ID nHAp) dopped with metal ions. The combination of a synthetic polymer, to be able to tune the structure and the physicochemical and mechanical properties, and a natural polymer, to ensure the specific biological functions of the scaffold, with inorganic filler was applied. The goal was to make a new material with superior properties for applications in the biomedical field which mimics as closely as possible the native bone extracellular matrix (ECM). Biodegradable PHEMA hydrogel was obtained by crosslinking HEMA by poly(beta-amino esters) (PBAE). The scaffold's physicochemical and mechanical properties, in vitro degradation, and biological activity were assessed so to study the effects of the incorporation of nHAp in the (PHEMA/PBAE/gelatin) hydrogel, as well as the effect of the different pore-forming methods. Cryogels had higher elasticity, swelling, porosity, and percent of mass loss during degradation than the samples obtained by porogenation. The composite scaffolds had a higher mechanical strength, 10.14 MPa for the porogenated samples and 5.87 MPa for the cryogels, but a slightly lower degree of swelling, percent of mass loss, and porosity than the hybrid ones. All the scaffolds were nontoxic and had a high cell adhesion rate, which was 15-20% higher in the composite samples. Cell metabolic activity after 2 and 7 days of culture was higher in the composites, although not statistically different. After 28 days, cell metabolic activity was similar in all scaffolds and the TCP control. No effect of integrating nHAp into the scaffolds on osteogenic cell differentiation could be observed. Synergetic effects occurred which influenced the mechanical behavior, structure, physicochemical properties, and interactions with biological species.