UV-cure hydrogels for cardiac regeneration: a comprehensive review

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), particularly myocardial infarction (MI), cause irreversible cardiomyocyte loss and scar formation, severely compromising cardiac function. Despite advances in cardiovascular care, cardiac tissue regeneration remains a significant clinical challenge due to the limited self-repair capacity of the heart. Traditional approaches face obstacles, including inadequate cellular preservation, poor integration with native tissue, and inadequate vascularization. With the advent of tissue engineering and the integration of biomaterial-based approaches, significant progress has been made in regenerating native cardiac tissue and advancing clinical goals. This review explores the potential of UV-curable hydrogels as a novel platform for cardiac tissue engineering, emphasizing their tunable properties and minimally invasive delivery potential. These hydrogels can be rapidly injected in situ by UV irradiation, providing precise control over the degradation rate, mechanical properties, and drug/cell release. Furthermore, incorporating bioactive molecules and growth factors into the hydrogel matrix can enhance cell survival, proliferation, and differentiation and promote angiogenesis and functional tissue formation. This review describes design considerations for UV-curable hydrogels, including biomaterial selection, crosslinking strategies, and incorporation of therapeutic agents, while highlighting recent advances in their application for cardiac repair. Particularly, after a comprehensive review of cardiac tissue, we address the major challenges that hinder effective cardiac regeneration and demonstrate how UV-curable hydrogels can overcome these limitations. Indeed, this article aims to provide an overview of the current state of the art, emphasizing the promise of UV-curable hydrogels as a powerful tool to advance cardiac regeneration and improve patient outcomes.