%0 Journal Article
%T Micro- and Nanoscale Hydrogel Systems for Drug Delivery and Tissue Engineering
%A Christine T. Schwall
%A Ipsita A. Banerjee
%J Materials
%D 2009
%I MDPI AG
%R 10.3390/ma2020577
%X The pursuit for targeted drug delivery systems has led to the development of highly improved biomaterials with enhanced biocompatibility and biodegradability properties. Micro- and nanoscale components of hydrogels prepared from both natural and artificial components have been gaining significant importance due to their potential uses in cell based therapies, tissue engineering, liquid micro-lenses, cancer therapy, and drug delivery. In this review some of the recent methodologies used in the preparation of a number of synthetic hydrogels such as poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAm), poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), polyvinyl alcohol methylacrylate co-polymers (PVA-MA) and polylactic acid (PLA), as well as some of the natural hydrogels and their applications have been discussed in detail.
%K hydrogel
%K micro
%K nano
%K drug delivery
%K tissue engineering
%K cancer therapy
%K diabetes
%K biosensor
%U http://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/2/2/577