Hyaluronic Acid and Derivatives for Tissue Engineering.

Among the protein-based hydrogel-forming polymers, various salts of hyaluronic acid (HA), aka hyaluronan or sodium hyaluronate, are used to prepare tissue-engineering. HA is a natural occurring glycosaminoglycan, a polysaccharide of high molecular weight which displays interesting viscoelastic properties. Among other organisms, HA is omnipresent in the human body, occurring in almost all biological fluids and tissues, although the highest amounts of HA are found in the extracellular matrix of soft connective tissues. HA is synthesized in a unique manner by a family of hyaluronan synthases and degraded by hyaluronidases and, exerts pleiotropic biological functions such as tissue repair and tissue regeneration. The excellent biocompatibility and biodegradability of HAderived hydrogels make them ideal materials for tissue engineering. Nevertheless, because of their hydrophilic nature, further modification with adhesion-mediating peptides is required to allow sufficient cell attachment. Hence, several methods of chemical cross-linking using different linkers have been investigated to improve the mechanical properties of those materials for long-term applications in the biomedical field. This manuscript provide an overview of HA and derivatives used as biomaterial scaffold for theranostic medicine.