Abstract
The application of interconnected supermacroporous cryogels as support matrices for the purification, separation and immobilization of whole cells and different biological macromolecules has been well reported in literature. Cryogels have advantages over traditional gel carriers in the field of biochromatography and related biomedical applications. These matrices nearly mimic the three-dimensional structure of native tissue extracellular matrix. In addition, mechanical, osmotic and chemical stability of cryogels make them attractive polymeric materials for the construction of scaffolds in tissue engineering applications and in vitro cell culture, separation materials for many different processes such as immobilization of biomolecules, capturing of target molecules, and controlled drug delivery. The low mass transfer resistance of cryogel matrices makes them useful in chromatographic applications with the immobilization of different affinity ligands to these materials. Cryogels have been introduced as gel matrices prepared using partially frozen monomer or polymer solutions at temperature below zero. These materials can be produced with different shapes and are of interest in the therapeutic area. This review highlights the recent advances in cryogelation technologies by emphasizing their biomedical applications to supply an overview of their rising stars day to day.
Highlights
In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of studies using macroporous polymeric structures for the separation of biological molecules
The main disadvantage of cryogels is the low surface area. Cryogels characterized by their hydrophilic properties have supermacropores and are formed by the polymerization process performed at temperatures below zero
Cu2+ -Iminodiacetic acid (IDA) supermacroporous monolithic columns with continuously preserving cell viability [64]. Another example from literature consists of the ligand immobilization to the support matrices offers effective cell separation. 2-(Dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEMA), methylene(bis) acrylamide (MBAA) and AAm was preferred to synthesize of cryogel matrix using ion-exchange ligands
Summary
There has been an increase in the number of studies using macroporous polymeric structures for the separation of biological molecules. High and rapid purification abilities of supermacroporous polymeric materials make them applicable in separation of different biological macromolecules. At the end of the polymerization process, after cryogels are thawed, supermacropores are formed within cryogel structure [2]. Since the interconnected macro pores provide a great advantage when working with viscous biological fluids, there has been a large increase in the number of studies using cryogels for the purification of natural source proteins over the last decade. Since the porous structures are suitable for cell adhesion and mechanical stability of cryogels offers applicability in in vivo processes, cryogels are used in tissue engineering studies [4]. This review describes the specific features of cryogels and refers to recent applications of cryogels in biomedicine and related area [5]
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