Issue 35, 2021

Bringing naturally-occurring saturated fatty acids into biomedical research

Abstract

Naturally-occurring saturated fatty acids (NSFAs) have emerged as a class of promising biomaterials due to their low cost, chemical stability, well-defined melting points, large heat of fusion, reversible solid–liquid phase transition, biocompatibility, biodegradability, and inherent antibacterial activity. By virtue of these unique advantages, a plethora of attempts have been made by taking NSFAs as gating materials for controlled release or simply serving as bioactive substances for the manipulation of bacterial/cellular behaviors, which greatly boosts their widespread applications in biomedical research. In this review, we systematically summarize the advances of NSFA-based materials in the biomedical field over the past decade. We begin with an introduction to NSFAs and their physiochemical/biological properties, with an emphasis on the working mechanism for controlled release. We then discuss current approaches for the fabrication of colloidally dispersed NSFA-based materials. Further, we showcase the specific applications of NSFA-based materials in biomedical research, including controlled drug release, targeted drug delivery, cancer therapy, antibacterial treatment, and tissue engineering. Lastly, this review is concluded with a summary and perspectives on future directions.

Graphical abstract: Bringing naturally-occurring saturated fatty acids into biomedical research

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
14 4月 2021
Accepted
13 5月 2021
First published
13 5月 2021

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2021,9, 6973-6987

Bringing naturally-occurring saturated fatty acids into biomedical research

K. Xue, S. Lv and C. Zhu, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2021, 9, 6973 DOI: 10.1039/D1TB00843A

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