Severe bone damage from diseases, including extensive trauma, fractures, and bone tumors, cannot self-heal, while traditional surgical treatment may bring side effects such as infection, inflammation, and pain. As a new biomaterial with controllable mechanical properties and biocompatibility, hydrogel is widely used in bone tissue engineering (BTE) as a scaffold for growth factor transport and cell adhesion. In order to make hydrogel more suitable for the local treatment of bone diseases, hydrogel preparation methods should be combined with synthetic materials with excellent properties and advanced technologies in different fields to better control drug release in time and orientation. It is necessary to establish a complete method to evaluate the hydrogel’s properties and biocompatibility with the human body. Moreover, establishment of standard animal models of bone defects helps in studying the therapeutic effect of hydrogels on bone repair, as well as to evaluate the safety and suitability of hydrogels. Thus, this review aims to systematically summarize current studies of hydrogels in BTE, including the mechanisms for promoting bone synthesis, design, and preparation; characterization and evaluation methods; as well as to explore future applications of hydrogels in BTE.

Bioactive peptides are specific peptide fragments that positively exert various functional and biological activities and ultimately influence health. Corn protein are potential precursor proteins for bioactive peptides. This review encompasses the studies reported to date on the production, isolation, purification, and characterization technologies of bioactive corn peptides (CPs), with particular attention being devoted to these peptides’ different health effects, including antioxidant, antihypertensive, hepatoprotective, alcohol‐metabolism‐facilitating, anti‐inflammatory, anticancer, antimicrobial, and dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP‐IV) inhibitory activities. The review also describes studies examining the potential mechanisms believed to be involved in these bioactivities, and the possible absorption and transport pathways of CPs are summarized.

In recent years, the in ovo feeding in fertilized broiler (Gallus gallus) eggs approach was further developed and currently is widely applied in the evaluation process of the effects of functional foods (primarily plant origin compounds) on the functionality of the intestinal brush border membrane, as well as potential prebiotic properties and interactions with the intestinal microbial populations. This review collates the information of potential nutrients and their effects on the mineral absorption, gut development, brush border membrane functionality, and immune system. In addition, the advantages and limitations of the in ovo feeding method in the assessment of potential prebiotic effects of plant origin compounds is discussed.