Classification and Medical Applications of Temperature-Sensitive Hydrogels as Promising Future Materials, with a Particular Emphasis on Chitosan-based Hydrogels

A wide variety of drug transportation systems comprising inorganic and organic materials have been investigated. Among this collection, hydrogels have garnered the utmost attention in various appliances because of their inimitable properties. Temperature-receptive hydrogels, endowed with gelation at physiological temperature, bestow them with superb temporal and spatial influence, with a wide-ranging appliance in drug transportation, cell culture and tissue engineering, protein delivery and gene therapy, wound dressing and regenerative medicine, and stem cell delivery.Various applications of chitosan in the controlled transport of therapeutic agents, ocular drug conveyance, nasal drug distribution, encapsulation and supply of nutrients, wound dressings as well as tissue regeneration are discussed. This review presents a brief synopsis and recapitulates significant developments in the categorization and concept of temperature-responsive hydrogels encompassing the underlying release mechanism for biotherapeutic molecules from such temperature-receptive hydrogels.