• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국생물공학회 2002년도 생물공학의 동향 (X)
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• pp.48-50
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• 2002

Cartilage defects are common and painful conditions that affect people of all ages. Although many techniques have developed, none of the current available treatment options is satisfactory. Recent advances in biology and materials science have pushed tissue engineering to the forefront of new cartilage repair techniques. The purpose of this study is to determine effective regeneration method for tissue-engineered cartilage. A serum free medium was developed for cartilage tissue engineering. Chondrocyte passage number was found to influence greatly on cartilage tissue formation in vivo. Injectable, biodegradable polymer matrix was developed for chondrocyte transplantation through injection. Transplantation of chondrocytes mixed with the injectable matrices resulted in the cartilage formation in nude mice's subcutaneous sites and rabbit knees. This study may lead to the development of tissue-engineered cartilage appropriate for clinical applications.

• Macromolecular Research
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• 제14권4호
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• pp.461-465
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• 2006

Two types of injectable system using thermosensitive chitosan (chitosan-g-NIPAAm), hydrogel and microparticles (MPs)-embedded hydrogel were developed as drug carriers for controlled release and their pharmaceutical potentials were investigated. 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU)-loaded, biodegradable PLGA MPs were prepared by a double emulsion method and then simply mixed with an aqueous solution of thermosensitive chitosan at room temperature. All 5-FU release rates from the hydrogel matrix were faster than bovine serum albumin (BSA), possibly due to the difference in the molecular weight of the drugs. The 5-FU release profile from MPs-embedded hydrogel was shown to reduce the burst effect and exhibit nearly zero-order release behavior from the beginning of each initial stage. Thus, these MPs-embedded hydrogels, as well as thermosensitive chitosan hydrogel, have promising potential as an injectable drug carrier for pharmaceutical applications.

• 생체재료학회지
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• 제22권4호
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• pp.235-248
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• 2018

Background: Injectable hydrogels have been extensively researched for the use as scaffolds or as carriers of therapeutic agents such as drugs, cells, proteins, and bioactive molecules in the treatment of diseases and cancers and the repair and regeneration of tissues. It is because they have the injectability with minimal invasiveness and usability for irregularly shaped sites, in addition to typical advantages of conventional hydrogels such as biocompatibility, permeability to oxygen and nutrient, properties similar to the characteristics of the native extracellular matrix, and porous structure allowing therapeutic agents to be loaded. Main body: In this article, recent studies of injectable hydrogel systems applicable for therapeutic agent delivery, disease/cancer therapy, and tissue engineering have reviewed in terms of the various factors physically and chemically contributing to sol-gel transition via which gels have been formed. The various factors are as follows: several different non-covalent interactions resulting in physical crosslinking (the electrostatic interactions (e.g., the ionic and hydrogen bonds), hydrophobic interactions, ${\pi}$-interactions, and van der Waals forces), in-situ chemical reactions inducing chemical crosslinking (the Diels Alder click reactions, Michael reactions, Schiff base reactions, or enzyme-or photo-mediated reactions), and external stimuli (temperatures, pHs, lights, electric/magnetic fields, ultrasounds, or biomolecular species (e.g., enzyme)). Finally, their applications with accompanying therapeutic agents and notable properties used were reviewed as well. Conclusion: Injectable hydrogels, of which network morphology and properties could be tuned, have shown to control the load and release of therapeutic agents, consequently producing significant therapeutic efficacy. Accordingly, they are believed to be successful and promising biomaterials as scaffolds and carriers of therapeutic agents for disease and cancer therapy and tissue engineering.

• Macromolecular Research
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• 제12권5호
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• pp.507-511
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• 2004

We have developed an injectable thermosensitive hydrogel for local drug delivery to treat cancers clinically. We selected chitosan as a polymer matrix because of its biocompatibility and biodegradability. Glycerol 2-phosphate disodium salt hydrate (${\beta}$-GP) was used to neutralize the chitosan solution to physiological pH. The chitosan solution displayed a sol-gel phase transition in a pH-and temperature-dependent manner and formed an endothermic hydrogel after subcutaneous injection into mouse in the presence of ${\beta}$-GP. Additionally, we evaluated the biodegradation of chitosan hydrogel in mice by measuring the volume of injected chitosan hydrogel after subcutaneous injection. The injected chitosan hydrogel in mice was sected and stained with hematoxylin-eosin reagent for histological observation to confirm biodegradation of the hydrogel by the infiltrated cells. Chitosan hydrogel systems that possess biocompatibility and biodegradability could be promising thermosensitive injectable materials useful as depot systems for local anti-cancer drug delivery.