ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses in depth the challenges associated with the development of hydrogels as delivery platforms and also issues that are related to their preparation process, their physicochemical properties, the drug release kinetics, and the conditions under which the system is delivered to the human body. Hydrogels are swollen nanosized networks consisting of hydrophilic or amphiphilic polymer chains. Hydrogels can protect and transfer bioactive molecules, therapeutic nucleotides, and proteins/peptides and control their release by integrating highly responsive functional groups that respond to external stimuli by configurational changes and/or present biodegradable links in the polymer network. More intelligent magnetic hydrogels are based on pulse application of atomic force microscopy on magnetic hydrogels, which triggers on-demand pulsatile drug release. Polymer therapeutics describes a new class of drug delivery systems where polymers play a key role. An injectable and glucose-responsive hydrogel constructed from the complexation of boronic acid and glucose within a single component polymeric material was described in the literature.
