Application of polyvinyl alcohol/chitosan copolymer hydrogels in biomedicine: A review

  • Int J Biol Macromol. 2023 Jul 1;242(Pt 4):125192. doi: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125192.
Kui Zhang  1 ,  Yan Liu  2 ,  Xuewen Shi  3 ,  Ruihao Zhang  3 ,  Yixiang He  3 ,  Huaibin Zhang  3 ,  Wenji Wang  4
Affiliations
  • 1. The First Clinical Medical College of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
  • 2. Department of Gynecology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xi 'an Medical College, Xi'an 710000, China.
  • 3. The First Clinical Medical College of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China.
  • 4. Department of Orthopedics, The First Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
PMID: 37276897 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2023.125192
Abstract

Hydrogels is a hydrophilic, cross-linked polymer of three-dimensional network structures. The application of hydrogels prepared from a single polymer in the biomedical field has many drawbacks. The functional blend of polyvinyl alcohol and chitosan allows hydrogels to have better and more desirable properties than those produced from a single polymer, which is a good biomaterial for development and design. In this paper, we have reviewed the progress in the application of polyvinyl alcohol/chitosan composite hydrogels in various medical fields, the different cross-linking agents and cross-linking methods, and the research progress in the optimization of composite hydrogels for their subsequent wide range of biomedical applications.

Keywords
Biomedical engineering; Chitosan; Composite hydrogel; Polyvinyl alcohol; Review.
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