Stimuli-responsive carrageenan-based biomaterials for biomedical applications

Carrageenan-based biomaterials have attracted considerable attention in recent years due to their unique biological properties, including their biodegradability, compatibility, and lack of adverse effects. These biomaterials exhibit a variety of beneficial properties, such as antiviral, antitumor, and immunomodulatory effects, which set them apart from other polysaccharides. Stimuli-responsive carrageenan-based biomaterials have attracted particular attention due to their unique properties, such as reducing systemic toxicity and controlling drug release. In this review, a comprehensive investigation of stimuli-responsive carrageenan-based biomaterials was conducted under the influence of various stimuli such as pH, electric field, magnetic field, temperature, light, and ions. These structures exhibited good stimulus-responsive properties and involved corresponding physical and chemical changes, such as changes in swelling ratio and gelling power among others. The biomedical application of carrageenan-based stimuli-responsive biomaterials in the field of tissue engineering, anticancer, antibacterial, and food monitoring has been investigated, showing the great potential of these structures. Although there are promising developments in the design and use of stimuli-responsive carrageenan-based biomaterials, further research is advisable to further investigate their potential applications, particularly in animal models. Extensive studies are needed to investigate the benefits and limitations of these materials to ensure their safety and effective use in biomedical applications.