Description
Book SynopsisHydrogels are an emerging area of interest in medicine as well as pharmaceutics, and their physico-chemical characterization is fundamental to their practical applications. Compared with synthetic polymers, polysaccharides that are widely present in living organisms and come from renewable sources are extremely advantageous for hydrogel formation. Furthermore, polysaccharides are usually non-toxic and biocompatible and show a number of peculiar physico-chemical properties that make them suitable for a wide variety of biomedical applications. This book bridges the gap between the preparation of hydrogels and their characterization techniques. It aims to offer a valid support that can help the readers find appropriate keys to open the doors to the complex world of polysaccharide hydrogels.
Trade Review"This book unveils the secrets of polysaccharide hydrogels that make them invaluable tools in the biomedical field. It presents elegant approaches to preparing hydrogels, techniques for a very detailed characterization of polysaccharides and their hydrogels, and recent applications."
— Prof. Carmen Alvarez-Lorenzo, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
"This book is one of the first to cover all the aspects of polysaccharide hydrogels from the basic aspects of chemistry and characterization to their biological relevance and medical applications and is a great and comprehensive answer to the first questions concerning hydrogels."
— Prof. Pierre Weiss, University of Nantes, France
"‘The gel is easier to recognize than to define (Dorothy Jordan Lloyd, 1926). This book gives significant answers to this ‘old’ but still intriguing statement as it brings together most of the up-to-date information on the hot topic of hydrogels obtained from polysaccharides, and their preparation, characterization and application in the field of pharmaceutics."
— Prof. Gaetano Giammona, University of Palermo and The Biophysics Institute, Italy
Table of ContentsIntroduction. Hydrogels. Rheological Characterization of Hydrogels. Hydrogel Mesh Size Evaluation. Dynamic Light Scattering. NMR Methodologies in the Study of Polysaccharides. Small-Angle Neutron Scattering of Polysaccharide Hydrogels. The Method of Small-Angle X-ray Scattering and Its Application to the Structural Analysis of Oligo- and Polysaccharides in Solution. Stimuli Responsive Polysaccharide-Based Hydrogels. Properties and Biomedical Applications of Gellan Gum Hydrogels. Polysaccharide Hydrogels with Magnetic Nanoparticles. Physical and Chemical Hyaluronic Acid hydrogels and Their Biomedical Applications. Alginate Hydrogels: Properties and Applications. Polysaccharide Hydrogels: The Present and the Future.
