2.1. Wound Healing
Currently, alginates have been widely used in wound healing due to their beneficial properties, such as biocompatibility, non-toxicity and high absorption capacity. Alginates have been prepared in various forms for wound dressings, including hydrogels, films, nanofibers and topical preparations [
40,
90,
93]. Some of commercially available alginate dressing is in band-aid and bandages in “dressings” with alginate. Compared with traditional raw materials (such as gauze), wound dressings prepared from alginate can absorb excess wound fluid, provide a moist environment, minimize bacterial infections at the wound site, and promote wound healing [
3]. Due to the poor mechanical properties of one component alginate material, it is usually combined with synthetic polymers to enhance the mechanical properties of the dressing. The therapeutic efficacy of composite wound dressings is affected by the component proportion of synthetic polymers, the type and degree of cross-linking, the incorporation of nanoparticles and antimicrobial agents [
40].
Wound dressings provide a physical barrier between the wound and the external environment to prevent further injury or infection, and hydrogel is an ideal choice because of its non-adhesiveness, ductility and resemblance to living tissues [
94]. Hydrogel can provide moisture to the wound and maintain a moist environment for cell migration. It also accelerates wound healing and reduces infection by promoting collagen synthesis, epithelial regeneration and lowering the pH of the wound [
95,
96]. Since chronic wounds are associated with alkaline pH, the treatment needs to restore the elevated pH to the physiological pH [
5]. For the development of pH-modulating hydrogels, substances with easily ionizable groups, such as acrylic acid (AA), can be added to increase the concentration of hydrogen ions in body fluids [
80]. The incorporated AA groups are responsible for pH regulation and act, together with functional groups of alginate, as interconnection between the networks. In particular, alginate hydrogels not only meet these requirements, but also activate macrophages and stimulate the late mononuclear cells to produce inter-leukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) to accelerate chronic wound healing [
97,
98]. Wang et al. developed ZnO nanoparticles contained double-layer alginate wound dressing to prevent bacterial infection. The outer layer, i.e., a sodium alginate (SA) layer, was to prevent outside invasion, while the inner layer, which contained ZnO nanoparticles, was the absorption system. The dressing reached the maximum antibacterial rate of 68.4% without obvious cytotoxicity, and had the ability to enhance the healing in vivo [
72].
Chen et al. developed a composite hydrogel dressing integrating antibacterial, biodegradable microspheres and alginate hydrogels. The alginate hydrogel used OA and carboxymethyl chitosan (CMCS) as the raw material [
73]. The gelatin microspheres (GMS) loaded with tetracycline hydrochloride (TH) were prepared by emulsion cross-linking method, and the composite gel dressing was synthesized with the OA-CMCS hydrogel [
73]. Compared with pure hydrogels and microspheres, the composite hydrogel dressings can continuously release the drug. In addition, the composite hydrogel dressing had strong bacteriostatic effects on
Escherichia coli and
Staphylococcus aureus.
Wound dressings with high flexibility, high mechanical strength and porosity have received increasing attention. Ma et al. prepared sodium alginate/graphene oxide/polyvinyl alcohol (AG/GO/PVA) nanocomposite sponge by freeze-thaw cycle and freeze-dried forming method [
99]. When the GO concentration was 1 wt%, the prepared sponges had uniform and interconnected porous structure, leading to good water absorption, air permeability and mechanical properties [
99]. Moreover, the presence of appropriate amount of GO could promote cell proliferation. The sponges had strong inhibitory effects on
Escherichia coli and
Staphylococcus aureus, and in vivo evaluations showed that the sponges enhanced wound healing.
Wound healing can be improved by giving treatment at the appropriate time, so researchers have huge interest in the so-called smart hydrogel. The hydrogel can monitor the wound environment in real time, and exhibit obvious property changes in the external environment, including small changes in temperature, pH, light, ionic strength, or enzyme environment [
100,
101]. Mostafalu et al. proposed an intelligent and automated flexible wound dressing by embedding thermally responsive particles into an alginate hydrogel patch and casting the patch directly onto the flexible pH sensor and heater [
74]. According to the data fed back by the pH sensor, the thermal responsive release patch was activated to release antibacterial agents [
74]. The prepared pH sensor patch has good flexibility, can be attached to the body and provide real-time information about the wound condition.
Films and nanofibers made of alginate as potential materials for wound dressings have been reported by some researches. The film not only protects the wound from bacterial infections, but also improves the permeability of water vapor, oxygen and carbon dioxide, which contributes to the wound healing. However, due to their high water absorption and poor thickness, films are not useful for the wounds with excessive exudation [
90]. Pereira et al. prepared novel alginate/aloe films with different proportions by solvent casting [
75]. The study showed that the incorporation of aloe vera has no obvious effect on the chemical properties of the film, but improves its permeability and mechanical properties. In addition, by increasing the degradation temperature and reducing the weight loss of the film, its permeability and thermal stability are improved.
Li et al. developed a new wound dressing composed of silk fibroin, sodium alginate and strontium (Sr-loaded SF/SA blend membrane) [
110]. Sr-loaded SF/SA blend film not only has good physical and chemical properties, but also exhibits water absorption, moisture permeability and good biological activity. Especially, during four days of culture in vitro, the Sr-loaded SF/SA blend films prepared by treating with 5 mg/mL Sr solution can induce a large number of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), indicating that it can induce angiogenesis, which is very important for wound dressings [
110]. In addition, some studies have shown that Sr has antibacterial activity, and its antibacterial effect is to inhibit the permeability of cell membrane, the synthesis of cell wall, the replication of bacterial chromosomes and cell metabolism by inhibiting the growth and reproduction of bacteria [
111]. Therefore, the prepared new wound dressing also has antimicrobial activity.
Adding nanoparticles to the nanofibers can improve their antibacterial activity. Mokhena et al. prepared stable polyelectrolyte complex (PEC) nanofiber composites by coating chitosan/silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) onto the electrospun alginate membranes [
112]. Due to their very potent and diverse antibacterial activity, AgNPs have become a popular choice of antibacterial component in polymer-based wound dressings [
113]. The porous structure of PEC nanofiber composites accelerates absorbing water which in turn helps releasing the AgNPs into the medium [
112]. The AgNP aggregates are well dispersed on the surface of electrospun nanofibers, thus the obtained nanofiber composite material is highly antibacterial against gram-negative bacteria and gram-positive bacteria. However, it cannot be released for a long time. Hajiali et al. used sodium alginate and lavender essential oil to produce bioactive nanofiber dressings by electrospinning [
114]. The results showed that the addition of lavender oil did not affect the morphology of the nanofibers, and the nanofibers prepared were highly hydrophilic. The in vivo studies have shown that sodium alginate and lavender essential oil nanofiber dressings not only have antibacterial activity against
Staphylococcus aureus, but also effectively inhibit the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in vivo and in vitro.
2.2. Drug Delivery
Alginate plays an important role in drug delivery. At present, the oral dosage form uses alginate the most frequently in drug application, and alginate as a carrier for local drug delivery has been paid more and more attention [
2]. Encapsulating certain active substances (nucleic acids, cells, enzymes, proteins, drugs, etc.) in the alginate substrate can protect the drugs, prevent the premature inactivity of the drugs, delay the release of the drugs, and enable the drugs to reach the target site at a fixed point and at a fixed time to complete the targeted therapy. A schematic presentation of alginate-based material preparation for cancer therapy is shown in . Shaedi et al. designed an oral gut specific alginate nano-system for vitexin [
115]. In the study, stearic acid was used to make the matrix hydrophobic, which promotes the early release of vitexin, and the nanoparticles are compacted with polyethylene glycol (PEG3000, 10,000 and 20,000). The results showed that compacting the nanoparticles with PEG significantly reduced the release of vitexin in the gastric region, while the release of vitexin in the intestinal tract increased by the nanoparticles loaded with stearic acid [
115]. The use of PEG-10,000 during the compaction process will lead to PEG-nanoparticle interactions, thereby inhibiting the initial release of vitexin. Then the dissolution of PEG in the subsequent intestinal phase causes the dispersed stearic acid to induce particle rupture and vitexin release. PEG compressed nanoparticles showed specific release of vitexin by oral intestines, decreased positive blood glucose in the body and increased intestinal vitexin content. Sun et al. prepared a novel double-stimulation-responsive nanogel using human hair keratin and alginate as raw materials through a simple cross-linking method [
76]. Keratin provides the cross-linking structure and biological reactivity of nanogels, while alginate improves the properties of nanogels, such as particle size, stability and drug loading capacity [
76]. The prepared keratin-alginate nanogel (KSA-NGS) has a high drug loading rate (52.9%) and can effectively load and deliver doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) to cancer cells, which can effectively inhibit the occurrence of tumor. In in vivo experiments, it has shown that KSA-NGS gel loaded with DOX aggregates more easily in tumors, stays longer, has better antitumor activity and fewer side effects compared to the gel free of drugs.
Figure 4. An example of alginate-based material for cancer therapy. Schematic preparation of folic acid (FA)-grafted solid lipid nanoparticles (SLNs) bearing irinotecan hydrochloride trihydrate (IHT) are encapsulated in alginate matrix coated with Eudragit S100 [
116,
117].
Alginate can incorporate protein into alginate-based materials under relatively mild conditions, minimizing its denaturation and making it unaffected by the acid environment of the stomach. Due to the inherent porosity and hydrophilicity of the gel, the release of protein from the alginate gel is very fast. However, if the encapsulated protein is positively charged, then the protein can interact with the negatively charged sodium alginate, inhibiting its diffusion and release in the polymer network, and achieving sustained and local release. This release can also be controlled by changing the degradation rate of alginate. Mata et al. applied a combination of polylactic acid (PLGA) and sodium alginate to vaccine delivery [
104]. As the main substrate, PLGA could avoid the instability of sodium alginate hydrogel in the physiological environment, while sodium alginate can improve the encapsulation rate of PLGA particles and significantly reduce the initial burst release [
104]. Studies have shown that the prepared PLGA/Alg carrier microspheres have higher encapsulation efficiency and immune-mediated ability than a single carrier.
Zhang et al. used functionalized alginate (ALG) nanoparticles to deliver targeted antigen to dendritic cells for cancer immunotherapy [
118]. Mannose (MAN) modified alginate (MAN-ALG) was used for DC targeting and the MAN-ALG/ALG = OVA nanoparticles (MAN-ALG/ALG = OVA NPs) were prepared via crosslinking MAN-ALG and ALG = OVA by CaCl
2. The results showed that MAN-ALG/ALG = OVA NPs facilitated antigen uptake of BMDCs and cytosolic release of the antigen. In vivo studies have shown that nanoparticles can be effectively transported from the injection site to the draining lymph nodes. In addition, Man-Alg/Alg = OVA NPS can enhance the cross expression of OVA in B3Z T-cell hybridoma, and subcutaneous administration of MAN-ALG/ALG = OVA NPS in mice also induced cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response and inhibited the growth of EG7 tumors.
Zhang et al. modified alginate (AlG) nanoparticles (DOX/ GA-AlG NPS) with glycyrrhizinic acid (GA) loaded with doxorubicin (DOX) [
119]. In the DOX/ GA-Alg NPS group, the growth inhibition rate (IR) of orthotopic liver tumors was 76.6%, with no mouse death, compared to approximately 52.6% and 33% mortality in the control group. This indicates that DOX/ GA-AlG NPS can effectively inhibit the growth of liver tumors in situ. Most importantly, DOX/GA-ALG NPs had no effect on the heart and liver cells around the tumor and reduced side effects significantly.
2.3. Tissue Repair and Regeneration
Tissue engineering can combine cells and biomaterials to reconstruct the structure, shape and function of damaged tissues and organs, thus replace damaged tissues. Seed cells, growth factors and scaffolds are three elements of tissue engineering technology [
3]. One of the earliest applications of sodium alginate in tissue engineering is to encapsulate pancreatic islet grafts in sodium alginate hydrogel for the treatment of diabetes. The advantage of sodium alginate as a scaffold material is that it can fully adapt to tissue defects because of the excellent flexibility [
7], and simultaneously load bioactive molecules as well [
120]. The unique three-dimensional gel structure provides comfortable stereo space for the growth of the seed cells, and the shape is regular and the surface is smooth, which can avoid secondary damage to the injured site when the implant of irregular shape is implanted. It has been used in the cartilage [
120], hard bone [
121], nerve tissue repair [
122,
123] and other aspects [
124].
Saygili et al. prepared a functionalized polyacrylamide (PAAM)-ALG double network hydrogel [
77]. Subsequently, the PLGA NPs loaded with functional transformation factors were encapsulated in this hydrogel, similar to articular tissue, and maintained their mechanical stability for over 3 months at different temperatures (+4, 25, 40 °C) and humidity conditions (60% and 75%). In vitro experiments showed that, compared with PAAM-ALG hydrogels, the functional hydrogel exhibited better cell viability and significantly promoted the regeneration of rat cartilage. Witte et al. designed an alginate-fibronectin microfluidic carrier (known as a cartilage bag) equipped with solid presentation of growth factors capable of preserving the human articular chondrocyte phenotype and promoting chondrogenic differentiation of skeletal stem cells [
125]. The results demonstrated the biocompatibility, cell viability, proliferation and tissue-specific differentiation of chondrocyte markers. It illustrated the potential applications for a TGF-β1 alginate-fibronectin chondro-bags platform as a workable 3D bioprinting and culture system for cartilage tissue regeneration with therapeutic applications therein.
Alginate hydrogel has many advantages, such as its inherent biocompatibility, high water content and molecular structure similar to natural extracellular matrix, so it has a great application potential in bone regeneration and bone defect repair. Ma et al. prepared strontium alginate (Sr) hydrogel containing chondroitin sulfate (CS) for enhanced bone defect repair [
78]. Studies have shown that strontium (SR), a trace element in bone, has a positive effect on bone regeneration, can enhance the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblasts, and reduce the activity of osteoclasts [
126]. As an important multifunctional sulfide GAG, CS can participate in the process of bone formation and mineralization. The results of in vitro experiments showed that the SR-CS/alginate gel with higher CS ratio was beneficial to the proliferation of osteoblasts, and the Sr-CS/alginate gel had a positive regulation effect on osteogenic factors.
Bone repair is very slow and it is difficult to regain full function. This is mainly due to the existence of a lot of reactive oxygen species (ROS)/free radicals at the fracture site. Bone injury and surgical trauma will produce oxidative stress in the damaged tissue, thus increasing the generation of free radicals [
127]. The presence of free radicals during healing further delays the healing process, and high levels of free radicals can damage cells through protein and lipid oxidation. In addition, it can alter DNA and mitochondrial integrity, or trigger apoptosis of bone cells [
128,
129]. Purohit et al. mixed nano-cerium oxide (Nanoceria, NC) into gelatin-alginate (GA) scaffolds and obtained nano-composite scaffolds (GA-NCs) by freeze-drying. NC has good free radical scavenging ability [
130], the results showed that the addition of NC increased the mechanical properties and biomineralization of the scaffold, and reduced the expansion and weight loss of the scaffold. The synergistic fusion of nanoparticles and GA scaffolds enhanced the adhesion, proliferation and activity of cells, making GA-NCS scaffolds have the potential to assist the differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) into osteoblasts, and have a certain ability of free radical scavenging. In order to solve the problem of low retention rate and survival rate of stem cells after transplantation ascribing to the existence of reactive oxygen species (ROS) microenvironment. Tong et al. introduced fullerenol nanoparticles into alginate hydrogels to create an injectable cell delivery vehicle with antioxidant activity [
79]. The results showed that the prepared fullerenol/alginate hydrogels had good injection strength and mechanical strength, and could effectively scavenge superoxide anions and hydroxyl radicals. Fullerenol/alginate saline gel had no cytotoxic effect on the biological behaviors of brown adipose-derived stem cells (BADSCs). It could effectively reduce the ROS level in the myocardial infarction (MI) region, improve the retention rate and survival rate of implanted BADSCs, induce angiogenesis, and thus promote the recovery of cardiac function. The mechanism of action was to inhibit oxidative stress damage of BADSCs via activating ERK and p38 pathways while inhibiting JNK pathways, and improve its survival ability in ROS microenvironment.
2.4. 3D Bioprinting
3D bioprinting, also known as biofabrication, is a new additive manufacturing technology for fabrication of structures resembled in architecture to native biological tissue. Compared with non-biological printing, 3D bioprinting enables 3D printing of biocompatible materials, cells and supporting components into complex 3D functional living tissues. Under the banner of robotic rapid prototyping, 3D bioprinting has emerged as a potential tool in regenerative medicine since last decade, and is currently being applied to fabricate 3D functional constructs with biological and mechanical properties suitable for clinical restoration of tissue and organ function.
Most of the 3D bioprinting researches have been conducted for the applications in bone and cartilage regeneration. Antich et al. prepared hyaluronic acid (HA) and alginate (ALG) hydrogel based bioink [
108]. The mixtures of HA and ALG provide the mechanical properties suitable for cell laden. The printed bioink/PLA composite scaffold can support cartilage extracellular matrix deposition and gene expression in vitro. With 3D bioprinting technique, Wu et al. constructed a gelatin/sodium alginate hydrogel scaffold for neural repair with rat Schwann cells contained [
131]. After cultured in the hydrogel for seven days, it was found that the cells had a high survival rate and adhered to the surface of the scaffold firmly. Compared with the 2D culture samples, 3D bioprinted samples showed higher mRNA levels of NGF, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), glial neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) on the fourth day. These results suggest that the composite scaffold can maintain the activity of Schwann cells and promote the expression of cell adhesion and related factors.
The cells used in 3D bioprinting should be kept to the physiological state and maintained with physiological function [
132], and normally, need to be expanded in vitro till enough for printing. Over the years, bioink has been the focus of the research within 3D bioprinting field. Defined as a formulation suitable for processing by an automated biofabrication technology, bioink may also contain biologically active components and biomaterials [
132]. Compared with directly loaded cell hydrogel, the application of scaffold free cell gel can obtain higher cell density. Without waiting for cell proliferation, it can stimulate cells to synthesize ECM, greatly improve the efficiency and accuracy of biological 3D printing process [
133]. Fedorovich et al. successfully demonstrated the possibility of manufacturing viable centimeter-scaled structured tissues by the 3D fiber deposition technique [
134]. In this study, the fluorescently labeled human chondrocytes and osteogenic progenitors were encapsulated and printed in alginate hydrogel yielding scaffolds of 1 × 2 cm with different parts for both cell types. Cell viability remained high throughout the printing process, and cells remained in their compartment of the printed scaffold for the whole culture period. Moreover, distinctive tissue formation was observed, both in vitro after three weeks and in vivo (six weeks subcutaneously in immunodeficient mice), at different locations within one construct. In addition, some studies have shown that incorporating the tissue-specific ECM into bioink can promote the specific differentiation of the cells. Choi et al. prepared the decellularized skeletal muscle extracellular matrix (mdECM)-based bioink [
135]. These mdECM-based bioinks can be extruded at 4 °C and then fabricated and solidified by raising the temperature to 37 °C. The results showed that the cells encapsulated in these bioinks remained active after printing, the mdECM bioink provideed the 3D cell-printed muscle constructs with a myogenic environment that supports high viability and contractility as well as myotube formation, differentiation, and maturation.