Biomedical applications of engineered heparin-based materials
Ehsan Nazarzadeh Zare, Danial Khorsandi, Atefeh Zarepour, Hülya Yılmaz, Tarun Agarwal, Sara Hooshmand, Reza Mohammadinejad, Fatma Özdemir, O. Şahin, Sevin Adiguzel, Haroon Khan, Ali Zarrabi, Esmaeel Sharifi, Arun Kumar, Ebrahim Mostafavi, Negar Hosseinzadeh Kouchehbaghi, Virgilio Mattoli, Feng Zhang, Vadim Jucaud, Alireza Hassani Najafabadi, Ali Khademhosseini
Abstract
Heparin is a negatively charged polysaccharide with various chain lengths and a hydrophilic backbone. Due to its fascinating chemical and physical properties, nontoxicity, biocompatibility, and biodegradability, heparin has been extensively used in different fields of medicine, such as cardiovascular and hematology. This review highlights recent and future advancements in designing materials based on heparin for various biomedical applications. The physicochemical and mechanical properties, biocompatibility, toxicity, and biodegradability of heparin are discussed. In addition, the applications of heparin-based materials in various biomedical fields, such as drug/gene delivery, tissue engineering, cancer therapy, and biosensors, are reviewed. Finally, challenges, opportunities, and future perspectives in preparing heparin-based materials are summarized.