Jan C Kwan, Sangeeth Pillai, Jose G Munguia-Lopez, Joseph M Kinsella, Simon D Tran
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Smart hydrogels have become precision platforms that interact with complex biological cues. We formalize a 2025 definition, materials that sense a clinically relevant cue and reproducibly execute a specified, reversible function under physiologic conditions, and introduce a unified, feature-based, three-tier framework: Responsive (open-loop cue and response), Adaptive (multi-cue or stateful), and Intelligent (closed-loop sense, decide, and act). This review captures momentum from 2020 to 2025, a period marked by clinical and innovative breakthroughs, FDA-cleared formulations, and integration of advanced technologies, including AI-assisted design, fourth-dimensional (4D) bioprinting, and biohybrid interfaces. We spotlight cutting-edge developments in programmable degradation, self-healing, and multi-stimuli responsiveness, alongside emerging hydrogel fabrication strategies such as nanoparticle (NP)-laden bioinks and in situ light-activated crosslinking. Although barriers to regulation and translation remain, cross-disciplinary efforts with a sustainability- and ethics-first mind-set are redefining these materials' capabilities. Smart hydrogels are no longer just innovative, researchers in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine are actively redefining both their clinical potential and what it means for a material to be "smart."
期刊介绍：
Regenerative medicine replaces or regenerates human cells, tissue or organs, to restore or establish normal function*. Since 2006, Regenerative Medicine has been at the forefront of publishing the very best papers and reviews covering the entire regenerative medicine sector. The journal focusses on the entire spectrum of approaches to regenerative medicine, including small molecule drugs, biologics, biomaterials and tissue engineering, and cell and gene therapies – it’s all about regeneration and not a specific platform technology. The journal’s scope encompasses all aspects of the sector ranging from discovery research, through to clinical development, through to commercialization. Regenerative Medicine uniquely supports this important area of biomedical science and healthcare by providing a peer-reviewed journal totally committed to publishing the very best regenerative medicine research, clinical translation and commercialization.
Regenerative Medicine provides a specialist forum to address the important challenges and advances in regenerative medicine, delivering this essential information in concise, clear and attractive article formats – vital to a rapidly growing, multidisciplinary and increasingly time-constrained community.
Despite substantial developments in our knowledge and understanding of regeneration, the field is still in its infancy. However, progress is accelerating. The next few decades will see the discovery and development of transformative therapies for patients, and in some cases, even cures. Regenerative Medicine will continue to provide a critical overview of these advances as they progress, undergo clinical trials, and eventually become mainstream medicine.
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