Polysaccharide-based hydrogels for medical devices, implants and tissue engineering: A review.

Hydrogels are highly biocompatible biomaterials composed of crosslinked three-dimensional networks of hydrophilic polymers. Owing to their natural origin, polysaccharide-based hydrogels (PBHs) possess low toxicity, high biocompatibility and demonstrate in vivo biodegradability, making them great candidates for use in various biomedical devices, implants, and tissue engineering. In addition, many polysaccharides also show additional biological activities such as antimicrobial, anticoagulant, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, hemostatic, and anti-inflammatory, which can provide additional therapeutic benefits.

Aptamers and nanobodies as alternatives to antibodies for ligand-targeted drug delivery in cancer.

Targeted drug delivery (TDD) is the selective delivery of a therapeutic agent specifically to the site of action to avoid adverse effects and systemic toxicity and to reduce the dose required. Ligand TDD or active TDD involves using a ligand-drug conjugate comprising a targeting ligand linked to an active drug moiety that can either be free or encapsulated within a nanocarrier (NC). Aptamers are single-stranded oligonucleotides that bind to specific biomacromolecules because of their 3D conformation.

Polysaccharide-based hydrogels for drug delivery and wound management: a review.

Introduction: Polysaccharide-based hydrogels (PBHs) offer several advantages over their synthetic counterparts. Their natural origin contributes to their nontoxicity, high biocompatibility, and biodegradability. Their properties can be tuned finely to obtain hydrogels with desired mechanical, structural, and chemical properties.