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. 2021 Jan 27:1:100008.
doi: 10.1016/j.bbiosy.2021.100008. eCollection 2021 Mar.

Granular hydrogels for endogenous tissue repair

Taimoor H Qazi  1 , Jason A Burdick  1
Affiliations

Granular hydrogels for endogenous tissue repair

Taimoor H Qazi et al. Biomater Biosyst. .

Abstract

Granular hydrogels, formed by the packing of hydrogel microparticles (microgels), are emerging to support the endogenous repair of injured tissues by guiding local cell behavior. In contrast to traditional pre-formed scaffolds and bulk hydrogels, granular hydrogels offer exciting features such as injectability, inherent porosity, and the potential delivery of biologics. Further, granular hydrogel design allows for the tuning of constituent microgel properties and the mixing of discrete microgel populations. This modularity allows the creation of multifunctional granular hydrogels that promote cell recruitment, guide extracellular matrix deposition, and stimulate tissue growth to drive endogenous repair.

Keywords: Granular hydrogel; Hydrogel; Microgel; Tissue engineering.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Endogenous tissue repair is accelerated due to the unique functional properties of granular hydrogels. A. Examples of granular hydrogel delivery to injured tissues where the inherent porosity of granular hydrogels supports cell and vessel invasion, which can be hindered by more traditional bulk hydrogels. B. Granular hydrogels are highly tunable, and their properties can be engineered for application in endogenous tissue repair, including: Injectability through microgel flow within granular hydrogels; Porosity through changes in microgel packing density, shape, or size; Bioactivity via microgel surface modification with bioactive peptides or encapsulation of biologics; Interparticle interactions to control granular hydrogel properties through reversible or covalent interactions between microgels; Modularity through the combination of discrete populations of microgels to create multifunctional granular hydrogels.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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