Cancer remains one of the most prominent global health concerns, posing a substantial threat to public health. Millions of people die from cancer each year, and many cancer types remain incurable at present. Conventional cancer treatments, including surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy, often fail to achieve optimal clinical outcomes and are frequently associated with severe trauma and adverse effects. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop novel therapeutic strategies to address these limitations. Hydrogels have been widely utilised as platforms for loading drugs, proteins, DNA, and stem cells in biomedical tissue repair and cancer therapy. Through modification of their physicochemical properties and functions, hydrogels can be endowed with responsiveness to multiple stimuli. In recent years, stimuli-responsive hydrogels (also known as smart-responsive hydrogels), as novel drug delivery systems, have demonstrated remarkable efficacy in cancer treatment. Stimuli-responsive hydrogels are capable of altering their mechanical properties, swelling behaviour, hydrophilicity, bioactivity, and molecular permeability in response to endogenous stimuli (including pH, ROS, and temperature) and exogenous stimuli (including light, ultrasound, and magnetic fields). This review highlights recent advances and applications of responsive hydrogels triggered by endogenous stimuli (including pH, ROS, and temperature) and exogenous stimuli (including light, ultrasound, and magnetic force) in cancer drug delivery and treatment. Finally, the current application limitations and future prospects of smart-responsive hydrogels are summarised.

Atherosclerosis remains a leading cause of cardiovascular mortality despite advances in pharmacological and interventional therapies. Current treatment approaches face limitations including systemic side effects, inadequate local drug delivery, and restenosis following vascular interventions. Gel-based technologies offer unique advantages through tunable mechanical properties, controlled degradation kinetics, high drug-loading capacity, and potential for stimuli-responsive therapeutic release. This review examines gel platforms across multiple scales and applications in atherosclerosis research and intervention. First, gel-based in vitro models are discussed. These include hydrogel matrices simulating plaque microenvironments, three-dimensional cellular culture platforms, and microfluidic organ-on-chip devices. These devices incorporate physiological flow to investigate disease mechanisms under controlled conditions. Second, therapeutic strategies are addressed through macroscopic gels for localized treatment. These encompass natural polymer-based, synthetic polymer-based, and composite formulations. Applications include stent coatings, adventitial injections, and catheter-delivered depots. Natural polymers often possess intrinsic biological activities including anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties that may contribute to therapeutic effects. Third, nano- and microgels for systemic delivery are examined. These include polymer-based nanogels with stimuli-responsive drug release responding to oxidative stress, pH changes, and enzymatic activity characteristic of atherosclerotic lesions. Inorganic–organic composite nanogels incorporating paramagnetic contrast agents enable theranostic applications by combining therapy with imaging-guided treatment monitoring. Current challenges include manufacturing consistency, mechanical stability under physiological flow, long-term safety assessment, and regulatory pathway definition. Future opportunities are discussed in multi-functional integration, artificial intelligence-guided design, personalized formulations, and biomimetic approaches. Gel technologies demonstrate substantial potential to advance atherosclerosis management through improved spatial and temporal control over therapeutic interventions.

The rapid pace of modern life has contributed to a significant decline in sleep quality, which has become an urgent global public health issue. Melatonin, an endogenous hormone that regulates circadian rhythms, is vital in maintaining normal sleep cycles. While oral melatonin supplementation is widely used, transdermal delivery systems present advantages that include the avoidance of first-pass metabolism effects and enhanced bioavailability. In this study, a novel melatonin transdermal delivery system was successfully developed using a thermosensitive poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) [p(NVCL)]-based carrier. The p(NVCL) polymer was synthesized through free radical polymerization and characterized for its structural properties and phase transition temperature, in alignment with skin surface conditions. Orthogonal optimization experiments identified 3% azone, 3% menthol, and 4% borneol as the optimal enhancer combination for enhanced transdermal absorption. The formulation demonstrated exceptional melatonin loading characteristics with high encapsulation efficiency and stable physicochemical properties, including an appropriate pH and optimal moisture content. Comprehensive in vivo evaluation using normal mouse models revealed significant sleep quality improvements, specifically a shortened sleep latency and extended non-rapid eye movement sleep duration, with elevated serum melatonin and serotonin levels. Safety assessments including histopathological examination, biochemical analysis, and 28-day continuous administration studies confirmed excellent biocompatibility with no adverse reactions or systemic toxicity. Near-infrared fluorescence imaging provided direct evidence of enhanced transdermal absorption and superior biodistribution compared to oral administration. These findings indicate that the p(NVCL)-based melatonin transdermal gel system offers a safe, effective and convenient non-prescription option for sleep regulation, with promising potential for clinical translation as a consumer sleep aid.

Background: Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a progressive form of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) characterised by high prevalence, increasing incidence among younger individuals and poor prognosis. NASH pathophysiology is not completely understood, and at present, there are no viable pharmacological treatments for this condition in clinical practice. Gentiopicroside (GPS). Can alleviate NASH by reducing inflammatory responses, inhibiting oxidative stress and influencing blood lipid levels. Objective: To examine the preventive and therapeutic effects of gentiopicroside (GPS) on proteins and metabolites related to the endogenous formaldehyde-homocysteine (FA-HCY) pathway as well as on oxidative stress in NASH rats. Methods: A high-fat, high-sugar diet was used to create a NASH rat model, and the rats’ liver weight, body weight and liver index levels were measured. Oil red O and hematoxylin and eosin (HE) stainings were used to detect pathological alterations in the rat livers. Serum biochemical kits were used to identify biochemical markers in the rat serum. Markers linked to oxidative stress and metabolites associated with the endogenous FA-HCY pathway index were identified using Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) kits. Gas chromatography was employed to measure the amount of endogenous FA in the liver and serum. Western blotting and real-time (RT) PCR were used to determine the relative expression levels of proteins and mRNAs associated with the endogenous FA-HCY pathway in rat liver tissues. Immunofluorescence was used to measure the relative fluorescence intensities of the proteins MTHFR, MAT1A and ALDH2. Results: A diet rich in fats and sugars results in weight gain and considerable steatosis. GPS can mitigate hepatic steatosis in NASH rats, reduce NAFLD activity scores and decrease the oil red O-stained area. The NASH rats’ serum biochemical markers should be improved. In groups treated with GPS (low, medium and high dosages), the serum exhibited increased HDL-C levels ( P < 0.05) and considerably lowered the levels of total cholesterol, TG, ALT, AST and LDL-C. According to oxidative stress indicators, GPS increased SOD, GSH, Glutathione S-transferases (GST) and CAT levels ( P < 0.05) and decreased MDA and reactive oxygen species levels in the blood of NASH rats. Serum pathway indicators demonstrated that GPS also decreased the levels of SAH and HCY in the serum and endogenous FA in the livers of NASH rats ( P < 0.05) while simultaneously increasing the level of SAM ( P < 0.05). Compared with the model group, the medium-dose GPS treatment group exhibited elevated endogenous FA levels in the blood ( P < 0.05). Protein analysis revealed a significant reduction in AHCY expression ( P < 0.05) but a significant increase in ALDH2 and CBS levels ( P < 0.05) in the GPS treatment groups. RT PCR results indicated that GPS decreased AHCY and related mRNA expression ( P < 0.05) while enhancing the levels of MTHFR, MAT1A and ALDH2 and related mRNA expression ( P < 0.05). Conclusion: The GPS has therapeutic benefits in NASH rats as it improves liver weight, body weight, liver index levels, liver steatosis and liver function. The efficacy of GPS in ameliorating NASH in rats may be associated with the modulation of the endogenous FA-HCY pathway and attenuation of oxidative stress.

Biomimetic design strategies offer rational approaches for reconstructing functional vascular structures within hydrogel platforms. Hydrogels provide unique advantages through tissue-like hydration, tunable architectures, and biochemical functionalization capacity. These properties enable implementation of design principles derived from native vasculature. This review proposes an integrated analytical framework extracting design principles from native vascular architecture and demonstrating their application across two conventionally separate research directions, namely, vascular graft engineering and tissue vascularization. The framework encompasses four fundamental design dimensions. These are hierarchical organization spanning from arteries to capillaries, multi-layered wall architectures enabling functional stratification, biochemical microenvironments supporting vascular morphogenesis, and mechanical compliance matching physiological demands. These principles guide engineering of vascular grafts for vessel replacement and vascularized tissue constructs requiring internal perfusion. Applications include small-diameter arterial grafts, endovascular repair materials, bone tissue engineering with coupled osteogenesis and angiogenesis, chronic wound healing, and cardiac tissue regeneration. The relative weight of each design dimension varies across application contexts. Biomimetic principles function most effectively as selective design tools rather than prescriptive templates demanding maximum anatomical fidelity. Persistent challenges include temporal misalignment between scaffold degradation and vessel maturation, unpredictable anastomotic integration with host circulation, and manufacturing scalability limitations. Emerging technologies incorporating spatially controlled fabrication and stimuli-responsive behaviors offer pathways toward functional regulation beyond passive structural mimicry. This framework provides rational guidance for developing vascularized hydrogel platforms across specific therapeutic contexts.