Injectable hydrogel scaffold from natural biomaterials - An overview of recent studies

Abstract

The damage to cartilage due to factors such as trauma, accident or other diseases can impair its normal performance. Subsequently, this can lead to osteoarthritis which is an activity-related disease arising from inflammation and degeneration of joints leading to severe joint pain, swelling as well as joint dysfunction. Therefore, the repair of cartilage defects remains a notable challenge in orthopaedic medicine, especially due to the low potential of these injuries or defects to heal. Interestingly, advances in tissue engineering have offered desirable possibilities. Specifically, tissue engineering scaffolds made of injectable, biodegradable hydrogels have been observed to hold great potential for use as three-dimensional functional cartilage substitute. Notably, hydrogels have been prepared from synthetic and naturally derived polymer. However, hydrogels obtained from natural polymers are considered an ideal scaffold basically due to their salient properties. Specifically, they have porous framework, high water content, minimally invasive, able to match irregular defects, and closely resembles the natural extracellular matrix (ECM). Notwithstanding, to obtain desirable performance of hydrogels, there is need for proper selection of appropriate biomaterials, fabrication methods, and other factors that can influence the mechanical properties, degradation and design performance of the hydrogel. This review presents a summary of recent advances on material selection and design of tissue engineering hydrogel scaffolds for cartilage repair, and how these factors in combination with other factors influenced the overall performance of the hydrogel. In addition, recommendations for future studies on injectable scaffold hydrogel for tissue engineering are presented.