Multi-responsive hydrogels for drug delivery and tissue engineering applications

Multi-responsive hydrogels, or ‘intelligent’ hydrogels that respond to more than one environmental stimulus, have demonstrated great utility as a regenerative biomaterial in recent years. They are structured biocompatible materials that provide specific and distinct responses to varied physiological or externally applied stimuli. As evidenced by a burgeoning number of investigators, multi-responsive hydrogels are endowed with tunable, controllable and even biomimetic behavior well-suited for drug delivery and tissue engineering or regenerative growth applications. This article encompasses recent developments and challenges regarding supramolecular, layer-by-layer assembled and covalently cross-linked multi-responsive hydrogel networks and their application to drug delivery and tissue engineering.