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Stimuli-responsive hydrogels types | Benefits | Drawbacks | Reference |
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Temperature-responsive hydrogels | Capability of injection; heightened specificity with reduced toxicity; support and sustain’ health while decreasing the financial burden of their treatment | Unsatisfactory reactivity; little dissimilarity between diseased and healthy tissues | [37, 39, 40] |
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Redox-responsive hydrogels | Bone healing facilitated by redox-responsive drug release; the correlation between metal ions and mechanical properties of hydrogels | As the differentiation between diseased and healthy tissues is so slight, their use is constrained | [31, 42, 79] |
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Photo-responsive hydrogels | Very little risk of adverse effects on humans spatial and temporal regulation of medication release independent of physical contact with the lesion | Due to the inability of ultraviolet or visible light to permeate tissue, their use is restricted to in vitro systems and superficial skin treatments | [31, 53, 56] |
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Enzyme-responsive hydrogels | Cell proliferation and differentiation are facilitated by the release of biofactors, which are caused by structural changes and rapid breakdown in response to certain enzymes | Weak peptides activity and low half-life limit the long-term use | [31, 59, 60] |
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pH-responsive hydrogels | A problematic tissue, such as one with inflammation, infection, or cancer, will have a pH that is different from that of a healthy tissue | It’s possible that unfavorable tissue reactions could arise from clinically predicting pH value at sick regions | [62–64] |
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Magnetic-responsive hydrogels | Targeted treatment is possible through the use of magnetic fields in the environment to guide the transport of drugs in a diseased state in a certain direction | In some cases, living organisms could be harmed by the magnetic nanoparticles’ potential toxicity | [69, 71, 72] |
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