332
Views
24
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Reviews

Biodegradable ‘intelligent’ materials in response to physical stimuli for biomedical applications

, , &
Pages 493-507 | Published online: 13 Apr 2009
 

Abstract

Background: Stimuli-responsive materials that undergo dramatic changes in physical–chemical properties in response to mild physical changes in environmental conditions are attracting increasing interest because of their potential application in biomedical fields. Biodegradable materials are highly desired for most biomedical applications in vivo, such as transient implants, drug-delivery carriers, and tissue engineering scaffolds. Biomedical systems that are both biodegradable and stimuli-responsive have therefore been studied intensively and significant progress in this field has been achieved. Objective/methods: This review summarizes the development of biodegradable ‘intelligent’ materials in response to physical stimuli and their potential biomedical applications. A detailed analysis of publications and patents on such materials in recent years is presented. Results/conclusion: Although biodegradable stimuli-responsive materials are highly attractive for biomedical applications, most such materials are currently at a developmental research stage. Additionally, single stimulus-responsive property limits the practical applications of these materials. To achieve more favorable applications for these materials, further efforts are still necessary, especially for developing multi-stimuli-responsive functions of materials and improving the stimuli-responsive properties of such materials in a biological environment. Bearing in mind the great prospect of these biodegradable stimuli-responsive materials, we hope that this review will help in the future development of stimuli-responsive polymers or systems that could be reliably employed in biomedical applications.

Notes

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 99.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 1,757.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.