Abstract
Hydrogels are semisolid colloidal systems widely studied in the release of drugs and cell growth matrices, by injectable or topical routes, due to their great applicability in biomedical fields. Structurally, hydrogels are polymeric networks and present three-dimensional configurations formed according to their chemical composition, components compatibility, physicochemical stability, and environmental conditions. Polyethylene glycol (PEG)-based polymers have been the most well-described stimuli-responsive materials, especially considering temperature and pH as driving biological conditions to induce hydrogels self-assembly. This chapter will focus on PEG-based polymers chemical structure, physicochemical techniques, and self-assembly mechanisms highlighting the impact, opportunities, and challenges of PEG-based stimuli-responsive hydrogels as nanotechnological matrices for biomedical applications.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES, finance code 001), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP 2014/14457-5), and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq 309207/2016-9, 402838/2016-5, 303946/2018-0).
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Sepulveda, A.F., Borges, R., Marchi, J., de Araujo, D.R. (2020). Biomedical Applications of Stimuli-Responsive Hydrogels. In: Patra, J., Fraceto, L., Das, G., Campos, E. (eds) Green Nanoparticles. Nanotechnology in the Life Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39246-8_1
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