Applicatoin of chitosan-based hydrogel in oral tissue engineering.

Pulpitis, periodontitis, jaw bone defect, and temporomandibular joint damage are common oral and maxillofacial diseases in clinic, but traditional treatments are unable to restore the structure and function of the injured tissues. Due to their good biocompatibility, biodegradability, antioxidant effect, anti-inflammatory activity, and broad-spectrum antimicrobial property, chitosan-based hydrogels have shown broad applicable prospects in the field of oral tissue engineering. Quaternization, carboxymethylation, and sulfonation are common chemical modification strategies to improve the physicochemical properties and biological functions of chitosan-based hydrogels, while the construction of hydrogel composite systems via carrying porous microspheres or nanoparticles can achieve local sequential delivery of diverse drugs or bioactive factors, laying a solid foundation for the well-organized regeneration of defective tissues. Chemical cross-linking is commonly employed to fabricate irreversible permanent chitosan gels, and physical cross-linking enables the formation of reversible gel networks. Representing suitable scaffold biomaterials, several chitosan-based hydrogels transplanted with stem cells, growth factors or exosomes have been used in an attempt to regenerate oral soft and hard tissues. Currently, remarkable advances have been made in promoting the regeneration of pulp-dentin complex, cementum-periodontium-alveolar bone complex, jaw bone, and cartilage. However, the clinical translation of chitosan-based hydrogels still encounters multiple challenges. In future, more in vivo clinical exploration under the conditions of oral complex microenvironments should be performed, and the combined application of chitosan-based hydrogels and a variety of bioactive factors, biomaterials, and state-of-the-art biotechnologies can be pursued in order to realize multifaceted complete regeneration of oral tissue.牙髓炎、牙周炎、颌骨缺损及颞下颌关节损害是临床常见的口腔颌面部疾病，然而传统治疗手段无法有效恢复受损组织的结构和功能。因具有良好的生物相容性、生物降解性、抗氧化性、抗炎活性和广谱抗菌性，壳聚糖基水凝胶在口腔组织工程领域展现出广阔的应用前景。季铵化、羧甲基化、磺化是改善壳聚糖基水凝胶理化性质及生物学功能常见的化学修饰策略，通过携载多孔性微球或纳米颗粒构建水凝胶复合体系能实现多种药物或生物活性因子的局部序贯递送，为实现缺损组织有序再生奠定坚实基础。化学交联法常用于制备不可逆永久性壳聚糖凝胶，而物理交联法有助于形成可逆性凝胶网络。作为适宜的生物支架材料，目前多种壳聚糖基水凝胶协同干细胞、生长因子或胞外体移植已应用于口腔软硬组织缺损再生修复的探索中，并在促进牙髓-牙本质复合体、牙骨质-牙周膜-牙槽骨复合体、颌骨再生和软骨再生方面获得显著进展。然而，壳聚糖基水凝胶的临床转化应用仍面临诸多挑战。未来可致力于开展基于口腔内复杂微环境的体内研究，并将壳聚糖基水凝胶与多种不同的活性因子、生物材料和先进生物制造技术相结合以实现多层次全面口腔组织再生。.