Elsevier

Polymer

Volume 49, Issue 8, 15 April 2008, Pages 1993-2007
Polymer

Feature article
Hydrogels in drug delivery: Progress and challenges

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymer.2008.01.027Get rights and content
Under a Creative Commons license
open access

Abstract

There has been considerable progress in recent years in addressing the clinical and pharmacological limitations of hydrogels for drug delivery applications but substantial challenges remain. Here we discuss recent progress in overcoming these challenges, particularly with regards to effectively delivering hydrogels inside the body without implantation, prolonging the release kinetics of drugs from hydrogels, and expanding the nature of drugs which can be delivered using hydrogel-based approaches.

Keywords

Hydrogels
Drug delivery
Polymer science

Abbreviations

PEG
poly(ethylene glycol)
PEO
poly(ethylene oxide)
PPO
poly(propylene oxide)
PDMAEMA
poly(dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate)
PLGA
poly(lactide-co-glycolic acid)
PNIPAM
poly(N-isopropylacrylamide)
PPF
poly(propylene fumarate)
PCL
poly(caprolactone)
PU
poly(urethane)
POP
poly(organophosphazene)
PHB
poly(R-3-hydroxybutyrate)
FITC
fluorescein isothiocyanate
NSAID
non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug
IPN
interpenetrating polymer network
BAM
N-tert-butylacrylamide

Cited by (0)

Dr. Todd Hoare is a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Post-Doctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Langer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Hoare received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 2006 from McMaster University on stimulus-responsive microgels. His current work focuses on the development of injectable hydrogels for drug delivery, hydrogel coatings for regulating the biological responses of materials, and the use of stimulus-responsive nanoparticles for on–off pulsatile drug release.

Dr. Daniel Kohane received his M.D. and his Ph.D. degree in Physiology from Boston University Medical School in 1990. He completed training in pediatrics and pediatric critical care at Children's Hospital Boston, and in anesthesiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He is currently an Associate Professor of Anesthesiology at Harvard Medical School, based at Children's Hospital Boston. His research interests are in drug delivery and biomaterials for a variety of applications.

Financial support: GM073626 (to DSK), NSERC PDF (to TH).