Recent Trends in the Design of Biocompatible Gels for Tissue Engineering and Drug Delivery Applications

Background: The interest for tissue engineering and drug delivery systems are continuously increasing for serious diseases that are difficult to treat using conventional therapies (drugs, surgical treatments). Objective: The review underlines the use of scaffolds as the key component of tissue engineering. In this context, the review presented recent patents centered on the use of three-dimensional gels as scaffolds for tissue engineering and delivery systems. The scaffolds detailed in the paper are based especially on biopolymers like: collagen, gelatin, hyaluronic acid, but also matrix based on synthetic polymers are described in detail. Conclusion: Tissue engineering and delivery systems are among the most studied biomedical applications. Gels, used as supports for tissue engineering or as delivery systems and designed as injectable systems or scaffolds, are often prepared from a variety of biomaterials and bioploymers like chitosan, gelatin, collagen and hyluronic acid being often involved in the preparation of the gels. Moreover, synthetic polymers such as polyglycolic acid, polylactic acid, polyurethanes, etc., are used in the above mentioned applications.