Search

BACKGROUND: Self-healing hydrogels are scaffold materials with superior self-healing capability and biocompatibility, and are widely used in bone tissue engineering. OBJECTIVE: To introduce the gelatin mechanism and composition of self-healing hydrogels and summarize their applications in bone tissue engineering. METHODS: The first author searched both Chinese and English articles with key words "self-healing hydrogels; bone tissue engineering; bone regeneration" on CNKl, Wanfang, VIP, PubMed, Embase and Web of Science databases published from 2000 to 2020. Totally 69 eligible articles were selected for review. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The gelation mechanisms of self-healing hydrogels include dynamic covalent bonds, supramolecular bonds and multi-mechanism cross-links. Self-healing hydrogels can be composed of natural polymers, synthetic polymers and nanocomposites. Self-healing hydrogels have been found to be applied in bone tissue engineering through scaffold modification as stem cells delivery vehicle. The application of self-healing hydrogels in bone tissue engineering can be broaden by enhancing the mechanical properties of the hydrogel while maintaining its self-healing capability. Additionally, the specific mechanism for better superiority of self-repairing hydrogels over traditional hydrogels in bone tissue engineering is still unclear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: With the development of bone tissue engineering, the role of scaffold materials has become more and more important. Polycaprolactone and its composite materials have also increasingly attracted researchers to become one of the research highlights in this field. OBJECTIVE: To introduce the basic properties and synthesis methods of polycaprolactone, to summarize the research status of polycaprolactone and its composite materials in the field of bone tissue engineering, and to prospect the future development and research direction. METHODS: These articles published from 1950 to 2020 in Web of Science database were retrieved by using the search terms “PCL, PCL composites, bone tissue engineering, scaffold, bone, PCL synthesis”, taking “and” as the logical combination relationship. Totally 253 articles were initially obtained, and finally 52 articles were reviewed and analyzed after careful reading and selection. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) Pure polycaprolactone materials have certain shortcomings in bone tissue engineering. Due to their easy chemical modification and physical modification, polycaprolactone composite undoubtedly has become one of the candidate materials for bone tissue engineering scaffolds. (2) Due to the excellent solubility and thermal properties of polycaprolactone, it can be applied to a variety of scaffold preparation technologies. The appropriate scaffold preparation technology can be selected according to the application site. A variety of scaffold preparation technologies also broaden the application field of polycaprolactone, and there are also developed some novel technologies, so scaffold preparation technology should also attract the attention researchers. (3) For the modification direction of polycaprolactone, the modification of inorganic substances and natural or synthetic polymers has received extensive attention. (4) In terms of experimental research methods, researchers should pay attention to introducing more kinds of experimental cells and experimental models in accordance with clinical needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]