Polysaccharide Hydrogels : Characterization and Biomedical Applications

This book bridges the gap between preparation of hydrogels, which is often discussed in books and reviews, and their characterization techniques. It aims to offer graduate students as well as researchers, including PhD students and those involved in R&D in pharmaceutical companies and academia, a valid support that can help them find appropriate keys to open the doors to the complex world of polysaccharide hydrogels. The first part of the book gives a wide overview of the most important approaches for the physicochemical characterization of hydrogels while the second one is mainly devoted to biomedical applications.

Hydrogels 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.