Research advancement of DNA-based intelligent hydrogels:Manufacture, characteristics, application of disease diagnosis and treatment

DNA-based hydrogels are exceptional materials for biological applications because of their numerous advantages such as biodegradability,biocompatibility,hydrophilicity,super absorbency,porosity,and swelling.Among these advantages,the ability of DNA-based hydrogels to respond to specific physical and chemical triggers and undergo reversible phase transitions has garnered significant attention in the fields of disease diagnosis(biosensors)and treatment(drug delivery).This article focuses on the recent advancements in the research of DNA-based hydrogels and discusses the different types of these hydrogels,the synthetic methods,their unique properties,and their applications in biosensors and drug delivery.The types of DNA hydrogels are categorized based on their building blocks,and the process of synthesis as well as the unique characteristics of DNA-based hydrogels are described.Then,DNA-based responsive hydrogels utilized as intelligent materials for the development of biosensors are reviewed.Furthermore,this article also presents the current status of DNA-based responsive hydrogels in drug delivery for cancer treatment,wound healing,and other therapeutic applications.Ultimately,this paper discusses the current challenges in expanding the practical application of DNA-based hydrogels.

Rotating magnetic field-controlled fabrication of magnetic hydrogel with spatially disk-like microstructures

Composite biomaterials with controllable mi- crostructures play an increasingly important role in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Here, we report a magnetic hydrogel composite with disk-like microstructure fabricated by assembly of iron oxide nanopartides during the gelation process in the presence of rotating magnetic field. It should be mentioned that the iron oxide nanoparticles here were synthesized identically following techniques of Fer- umoxytol that is the only inorganic nanodrug approved by FDA for clinical applications. The microstructure of nano- particles inside the hydrogel was ordered three-dimensionally due to the twist of the aligned chains of magnetic nano- particles which leads to the lowest state of systematic energy. The size of microstructure can be tuned from several micro- meters to tens of micrometers by changing the assembly parameters. With the increase of microstructure size, the magnetothermal anisotropy was also augmented. This result confirmed that the assembly-induced anisotropy can occur even for the several micron aggregates of nanopartides. The rotating magnetic field-assisted technique is cost-effective, simple and flexible for the fabrication of composite hydrogel with ordered microstructure. We believe it will be favorable for the quick, green and intelligent fabrication of some com- posite materials.