Gelatin carriers for drug and cell delivery in tissue engineering

The ability of gelatin to form complexes with different drugs has been investigated for controlled release applications. Gelatin parameters, such as crosslinking density and isoelectric point, have been tuned in order to optimize gelatin degradation and drug delivery kinetics. In recent years, focus has shifted away from the use of gelatin in isolation toward the modification of gelatin with functional groups and the fabrication of material composites with embedded gelatin carriers. In this review, we highlight some of the latest work being performed in these areas and comment on trends in the field. Specifically, we discuss gelatin modifications for immune system evasion, drug stabilization, and targeted delivery, as well as gelatin composite systems based on ceramics, naturally-occurring polymers, and synthetic polymers.