Hydrogels: potential aid in tissue engineering—a review

The hydrogels are three-dimensional, water-swollen structures composed mainly of hydrophilic homo-polymers or copolymers utilized in various fields. This review explains in detail about the various methods used in the synthesis of hydrogel, their loading mechanism, their swelling index, their chemical and physical properties, and also comparative analysis between chemo-drug and drug-entrapped hydrogel. In this, we will also discuss various applications of hydrogel, which aid in treating diseases, like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson disease, etc., using modified drug delivery mechanism. Though these diseases have various methods of treatment, they have a common ground and that is the need for definite amounts and a prolonged release of drugs which will be possible with the aid of hydrogels. The use of hydrogel is believed to be an upgrade in the medical field, and its involvement in treatments is considered to be sincerely encouraged.