Nanogel-based composites for bacterial antibiofilm activity: advances, challenges, and prospects
Amaal Abdulraqeb Ali, Rouba D. Al Bostami, Amani Al–Othman
Abstract
), among others. Despite showing promise, nanogels remain relatively underexplored in biofilm treatment. This review concludes that research gaps are still present in biofilm treatment processes including (i) a better understanding of the stimuli-responsive behaviors of nanogels, (ii) active targeting strategies, and (iii) the narrow spectrum of antibiofilm agents loaded into nanogels. Hence, future studies could be directed towards the following elements: the exploration of multi-strain biofilms rather than single-strain biofilms, other endogenous and exogenous stimuli to trigger drug release, active targeting mechanisms, a broader range of antibiofilm agents when employing nanogels, and fostering more comprehensive and reliable biofilm treatment strategies. This review found that there are currently several research gaps as well in the use of nanogels for biofilm therapy, and these include: (i) very limited exogenous and endogenous stimuli were explored to trigger drug release from nanogels, (ii) the active targeting strategies were not explored, (iii) a very narrow spectrum of antibiofilm agents was loaded into nanogels, and (iv) only biofilms of single strains were investigated.