Multicomponent Hydrogels for Controlled Drug Release and Delivery

Multicomponent hydrogels have received remarkable attention in the past few decades, mainly as advanced biomaterials in the pharmaceutical industry. This chapter highlights contemporary pathways to engineer multicomponent hydrogels containing marine (alginate, carrageenan, hyaluronic acid, chitosan), plant/seed (cellulose, pectin, starch), or bacterial (dextran, salecan, xanthan gum, gellan gum) origin polysaccharides and their potential applications for controlled drug release and delivery. Multicomponent hydrogels prepared as semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (semi-IPNs), interpenetrating polymeric networks (IPNs), polyelectrolyte complexes (PEC) or interconnected hydrogel networks (IHNs) via either physical, chemical, or enzymatic cross-linking strategies or a combination of them will be described based on recent publications in the field and our studies.