Title:Advances in Stimuli-responsive Hydrogels for Tissue Engineering and
Regenerative Medicine Applications: A Review Towards Improving Structural
Design for 3D Printing
Volume: 29
Issue: 40
Author(s): Mduduzi Nkosinathi Sithole, Hillary Mndlovu, Lisa C. du Toit and Yahya Essop Choonara*
Affiliation:
- Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform Research Unit, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, School of Therapeutic Sciences,
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, 7 York Road, Parktown, Johannesburg, Gauteng, 2193, South
Africa
Keywords:
Polymeric hydrogels, 3D printing, stimuli-responsive polymeric hydrogels, scaffolds, hydrogel stimuli properties, tissue engineering.
Abstract: The physicochemical properties of polymeric hydrogels render them attractive for the development
of 3D printed prototypes for tissue engineering in regenerative medicine. Significant effort has been made to
design hydrogels with desirable attributes that facilitate 3D printability. In addition, there is significant interest
in exploring stimuli-responsive hydrogels to support automated 3D printing into more structurally organised
prototypes such as customizable bio-scaffolds for regenerative medicine applications. Synthesizing stimuli-responsive
hydrogels is dependent on the type of design and modulation of various polymeric materials to open
novel opportunities for applications in biomedicine and bio-engineering. In this review, the salient advances
made in the design of stimuli-responsive polymeric hydrogels for 3D printing in tissue engineering are discussed
with a specific focus on the different methods of manipulation to develop 3D printed stimuli-responsive
polymeric hydrogels. Polymeric functionalisation, nano-enabling and crosslinking are amongst the most
common manipulative attributes that affect the assembly and structure of 3D printed bio-scaffolds and their stimuli-
responsiveness. The review also provides a concise incursion into the various applications of stimuli to
enhance the automated production of structurally organized 3D printed medical prototypes.