Self-assembling hydrogels based on polymer networks

This chapter describes the use of biocompatible polymers, either alone or combined with peptides, to create supramolecular hydrogels. By appending specific groups on polymer backbones, a network can be formed via host–guest interactions. This approach offers several advantages, such as the fabrication of self-healing hydrogels with tunable mechanical properties and stimuli-responsive behavior, but requires chemical modification of the polymer chains and the introduction of biofunctional groups to promote cell interactions. On the other hand, unmodified polymers can be directly combined with self-assembling peptides and be integrated with, or taking part of, the nanofibrillar network resulting in hydrogels with enhanced physical and biochemical properties. The transient nature of the polymer networks in these self-assembling hydrogels provides a compliant scaffold for cell culture and shear-thinning properties for their application in bioprinting and in vivo, via minimally invasive delivery. The dynamic behavior of these hydrogels is expected to better replicate the function of natural extracellular matrices.