Naturally biomimicked smart shape memory hydrogels for biomedical functions

Abstract

In recent periods, shape memory hydrogels (SMHs) have sought conjoint attention from industries as well as academia owing their intrinsic biocompatibility as well as biodegradability and their aptitude to undergo physical shape transition on exposure to extraneous stimuli, such as temperature, owing which they discover themselves employed in biomedical functions, extending from soft actuators to tissue engineering and drug delivery. Hydrogels exhibiting shape memory characteristic are intelligent, adaptable soft gels portraying propensity to mend either programmed or permanent temporal physical structures on exposure of extraneous stimuli like heat, pH, light etc. Over past decades, shape memory hydrogels have been efficiently consumed in biomedical engineering functions such as drug delivery, surgical sealants and tissue engineering because of their adaptability, enriched biocompatibility, and prospective biodegradability along with their wet and soft characteristics, analogous to that of human tissues. Shape memory hydrogels have been extensively explored and probed, however, no amalgamated information on their effective utilization in biomedical applications is available as such. In this review article, we systematically consolidate prevailing literature and briefly enumerate shape memory hydrogels based on their principles as well as their shape transitions in diverse environments, which significantly affects operational exploitations of shape memory hydrogels in copious biomedical engineering functions like drug delivery, tissue engineering and other potential applications. Concomitantly we also outline biocompatibility and biodegradability of shape memory hydrogels while highlighting their promising potential prior to their clinical adaptation in near future.