History and Applications of Hydrogels

Abstract

Hydrogels have existed for more than half century, providing one of the earliest records of crosslinked hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) hydrogels. Today, hydrogels still fascinate material scientists and biomedical researchers and great strides have been made in terms of their formulations and applications. As a class of material, hydrogels are unique, they consist of a self-supporting, water-swollen three-dimensional (3D) viscoelastic network which permits the diffusion and attachment of molecules and cells. However, hydrogels have recently drawn great attention for use in a wide variety of biomedical applications such as cell therapeutics, wound healing, cartilage/bone regeneration and the sustained release of drugs. This is due to their biocompatibility and the similarity of their physical properties to natural tissue. This review aims to give an overview of the historic and the recent design concept of hydrogels and their several applications based on the old and the most recent publications in this field.