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Hyperbranched polymers (HBPs), such as hyperbranched polyglycerols (HPGs) with a dendritic configuration, have been recognized for their excellent biocompatibility and multifunctionalization. HPGs have been studied for use in the delivery diagnostic, imaging and therapeutic molecules in the area of nanobiomedicine. They show superior characteristics to linear polymers and dendrimers, such as compact structure, a simple manufacturing process with easy functionalization ability, low viscosity, and high stability. Owing to these advantages, HPGs are now considered promising carriers for drug delivery, diagnostics, imaging, and theranostics applications for cancer treatment. In this review, we also discuss safety aspects of HPG-based nanoformulations in various animal models and the clinical translation status of such polymers for real-time applications.

In general, for soft contact lenses, there are two possible avenues to increase oxygen permeability: develop the materials with higher water content or develop the hydrophobic materials. Oxygen can be absorbed and permeate through the soft lens by water phase or its matrix. In conventional hydrogel, oxygen permeability is essentially governed by the equilibrium water content (EWC). Higher water content in soft lens can achieve higher oxygen transmissibility.

Spiga Nord refined polyglycerols can be successfully applied directly in cosmetic formulations as a Solvent for fragrances thanks to their non-volatile nature or as a skin moisturizer, in view of the reduced number of hydroxyl groups within the carbon chain with respect to Glycerol and the greater molecular weight Polyglycerolsand, as a consequence, Polyglycerol Esters (PGEs) are better tolerated by the human skin.In the research and development phases of a cosmetic formulation it is absolutely necessary to ensure that the product stability and functionality is valid after marketing and over shelf-life; moreover cosmetic products must maintain in course of time their texture, fragrance, softness, fast absorption. Polyglycerol Esters (PGEs), together with other compounds, can achieve both these goals. They are suitable to be applied as non-ionic emulsifiers, dispersants, emollients, wetting agents or thickeners in personal care formulations.

This study investigated a novel surface modification strategy for thin film composite (TFC) polyamide membranes using hyperbranched polyglycerol (hPG), which is not only super-hydrophilic to mitigate fouling, but also has a unique three-dimensional globular architecture to enhance water transport. Membrane surface modification with hydrophilic polymers has been shown to improve the membrane fouling resistance, but often at the expense of decreased water flux. To solve this dilemma, a highly permeable antifouling layer was created by grafting hPG onto the polyamide surface of a TFC membrane via a layer-by-layer interfacial polymerization method. The grafted hPG remarkably enhanced the hydrophilicity of the TFC polyamide surfaces, resulting in an extremely low water contact angle (16.4°), and significantly increased the water permeability by 41.5% compared to pristine TFC membranes.

Hyperbranched PG possesses a compact molecular structure and high biocompatibility in analogy to the established linear poly(ethylene glycol), can be employed to generate complex polymer architectures, and is therefore an important material for a variety of biomedical applications.

Hyperbranched polyglycerols (HPGs) and their derivatives are widely regarded as promising biomaterials in a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic applications through solubilization, microencapsulation or conjugation with diagnostic agents, drugs, genetic materials, proteins, peptides, etc. HPGs have good chemical stability, inertness under biological conditions, water-solubility with low viscosity and multi-functionalization, which prompt their application as ideal or interesting nanocarriers or modifying agents.

The current review provides an overview of different types of superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) together with appropriate strategies elaborated to enable their synthesis. The main focus will be on polysaccharide-based, semi-synthetic and 'smart' SAPs along with their derivatives. SAPs have already shown their use in a plethora of applications including diapers, the biomedical field, agriculture, etc. The different polymer classification possibilities are discussed, as well as the classification of the constituting building blocks. The main part of SAPs still has a synthetic origin. However, as they are often not biocompatible, biodegradable or renewable, natural SAPs based on polysaccharides have gained increasing interest.

Hydrogels have existed for more than half a century, and today they have many applications in various processes ranging from industrial to biological. There are numerous original papers, reviews, and monographs focused on the synthesis, properties, and applications of hydrogels. This chapter covers the fundamental aspects and several applications of hydrogels based on the old and the most recent publications in this field.

This work builds on the team's previous research with hydrogel scaffolds, which create a structure to support tissue growth, accelerating wound healing. In their new study, the team showed that a modified version of this hydrogel activates a regenerative immune response, which can potentially help heal skin injuries like burns, cuts, diabetic ulcers and other wounds that normally heal with significant scars that are more susceptible to reinjury.

Researchers have developed a new method of injecting healthy cells into damaged eyes. The technique could point the way toward new treatments with the potential to reverse forms of vision loss that are currently incurable.

Heart muscle becomes damaged and cardiac function is affected when blood vessels feeding the heart are blocked. A new stem-cell-carrying hydrogel helps mice recover from this condition, called myocardial infarction, by stimulating formation of new blood vessels. Developed by a team of scientists at Kansai University in Japan, the stem cell delivery system is described in the journal Science and Technology of Advanced Materials.

“Adhesion of soft materials, especially hydrogels, greatly attracted our research interests, because the state-of-the-art adhesion of hydrogels was fairly weak and often led to failures,” Zhao says. “In 2015, we proposed the first general strategy to achieve tough adhesion for diverse hydrogels and other materials.”
Like humans, hydrogels are made out of polymers and water. The similarities in mechanical and electrical properties make biological tissue and hydrogels compatible, opening up a world of biomedical applications. Now, Zhao and Yuk could further integrate hydrogels within various materials, devices, and even the human body with unprecedented robustness.

L'hydrogel stabilise l'antigène vaccinique et peut simuler la structure de tissu humain. Les réticulations covalentes signifient qu'elles ne sont pas facilement absorbées, et doivent pour cette raison être implantées ou bien administrées en tant que systèmes complexes qui permettent la polymérisation in situ dans l'hôte.
Ceci limite le nombre et le type de molécules compatibles de cargaison. Ainsi, des hydrogels spécialisés qui peuvent être injectés au lieu et qui peuvent relâcher des molécules sur une longue période ont été étudiés.

Emulium® Illustro est un émulsionnant eau-dans-huile hautement compatible avec les pigments et les filtres UV, mais également avec une large gamme d’ingrédients cosmétiques. Sans PEG et approuvé COSMOS, ce nouvel ingrédient répond parfaitement aux attentes des consommateurs en termes de naturalité et aux exigences des formulateurs grâce à sa performance et sa flexibilité.

The ideal peritoneal dialysis fluid (PDF) should have a physiologic electrolyte and buffer composition and be supplemented with an osmotic agent that is nontoxic, nonimmunogenic, and not rapidly absorbed to the plasma compartment, but if so, then rapidly metabolized. Furthermore, it should produce steady osmotic ultrafiltration (UF) over the course of a dwell. So far, glucose (G) has been the universally used osmotic agent in peritoneal dialysis (PD), based on its relative efficiency, low cost, safety, and rapid metabolism in plasma. In addition, commercially available PDFs containing icodextrin (ICO) or amino acids (AAs) have been in clinical use for a long time.

The adsorption of bovine serum albumin and collagen type I was found to be reduced by as much as 97 and 91%, respectively, in comparison to untreated surfaces. Human glioblastoma and mouse fibroblast attachment was reduced by 99 and 98%, respectively. HPG-grafted substrates outperformed polyethylene glycol (PEG) grafted substrates of comparable thickness under the same incubation conditions. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of antifouling HPG graft polymer coatings on a selected range of substrate materials and open the door for their use in biomedical applications.

In the pursuit of dendrimer alternatives, hyperbranched polymers have found increasing interest from academia and industry in a broad range of fields due to their topological and synthetic advantages. Hyperbranched polyglycerol (HPG), as the name implies, is a hyperbranched polymer with about 50–65% dendrimeric structure. Due to its ease in synthesis, globular nature, versatility in terms of functionalization, and superb biocompatibility profiles HPG provides a promising class of materials suitable for numerous applications in nanomedicine and biomedical technologies. The structural features of HPG can be easily tailored by adopting different synthetic methodologies.

The ability of superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) to absorb and retain a large amount of aqueous solution enables their applications in agriculture, medicine and water treatment. As a result, there were numerous studies reporting the present status and application prospects of raw materials and the mechanism of cross-linking agents. Conversely, there was a lack of research on the factors affecting SAP performance and the summaries of methods to improve performance.

Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) is caused by genetics, aging, and environmental factors and is one of the leading causes of low back pain. The treatment of IDD presents many challenges. Hydrogels are biomaterials that possess properties similar to those of the natural extracellular matrix and have significant potential in the field of regenerative medicine. Hydrogels with various functional qualities have recently been used to repair and regenerate diseased intervertebral discs.

“The problem with existing hydrogels is that they can be mechanically weak and so need strengthening,” he said. However, previous methods to toughen them up only work a limited number of times, or sometimes just once. Those gels do not recover rapidly from stresses such as impacts well at all.”

Polymer gels have unusual properties, including the ability to absorb water in volumes hundreds of times greater than their own. For example, some hydrogels are capable of holding up to two kilograms of water per gram of dry gel. By changing the temperature or adding solvents, various desired properties can be achieved. This is why polymer gels are used in industry and biomedicine, including for the targeted delivery of medication, creation of artificial skin, children's toys, etc.

Injecting hydrogels containing stem cell or exosome therapeutics directly into the pericardial cavity could offer a less invasive, less costly, and more effective way to treat cardiac injury, according to new research.

Many features of extracellular matrices, e.g., self-healing, adhesiveness, viscoelasticity, and conductivity, are associated with the intricate networks composed of many different covalent and non-covalent chemical bonds. Whereas a reductionism approach would have the limitation to fully recapitulate various biological properties with simple chemical structures, mimicking such sophisticated networks by incorporating many different functional groups in a macromolecular system is synthetically challenging. Herein, we propose a strategy of convergent synthesis of complex polymer networks to produce biomimetic electroconductive liquid metal hydrogels.