Mussel-Inspired Injectable Adhesive Hydrogels for Biomedical Applications

The impressive adhesive capacity of marine mussels has inspired various fascinating designs in biomedical fields. Mussel-inspired injectable adhesive hydrogels, as a type of promising mussel-inspired material, have attracted much attention due to their minimally invasive property and desirable functions provided by mussel-inspired components. In recent decades, various mussel-inspired injectable adhesive hydrogels have been designed and widely applied in numerous biomedical fields. The rational incorporation of mussel-inspired catechol groups endows the injectable hydrogels with the potential to exhibit many properties, including tissue adhesiveness and self-healing, antimicrobial, and antioxidant capabilities, broadening the applications of injectable hydrogels in biomedical fields. In this review, we first give a brief introduction to the adhesion mechanism of mussels and the characteristics of injectable hydrogels. Further, the typical design strategies of mussel-inspired injectable adhesive hydrogels are summarized. The methodologies for integrating catechol groups into polymers and the crosslinking methods of mussel-inspired hydrogels are discussed in this section. In addition, we systematically overview recent mussel-inspired injectable adhesive hydrogels for biomedical applications, with a focus on how the unique properties of these hydrogels benefit their applications in these fields. The challenges and perspectives of mussel-inspired injectable hydrogels are discussed in the last section. This review may provide new inspiration for the design of novel bioinspired injectable hydrogels and facilitate their application in various biomedical fields.