MedMat

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is still mainly treated with symptomatic therapies, while effective disease-modifying interventions remain limited. Although emerging therapeutics such as biologics, nucleic acid drugs, neurotrophic factors, and gene-based approaches offer new opportunities, their clinical translation is often restricted by inadequate brain delivery. Nanomedicine has therefore attracted increasing interest because it can improve drug stability, protect fragile cargos, enable controlled release, and support multifunctional therapeutic design. Nevertheless, the blood–brain barrier (BBB) remains the principal obstacle to effective brain-targeted therapy in PD. This review discusses nanomedicine-based delivery strategies for PD from the perspective of BBB navigation and classifies them into two major categories: strategies that cross the BBB and strategies that bypass it. BBB-crossing approaches include carrier-mediated transport, receptor-mediated transport, adsorptive and biomimetic transcytosis, and physically assisted methods such as focused ultrasound and photothermal modulation. BBB-bypassing approaches include intranasal delivery, meningeal lymphatic-associated pathways, skull–meninges-related microchannel routes, and local intracranial administration such as convection-enhanced delivery. We summarize their mechanisms, representative applications, advantages, and limitations, and compare them in terms of cargo suitability, delivery precision, repeatability, safety, and translational feasibility. Overall, nanomedicine provides important opportunities to expand the therapeutic potential of both conventional drugs and emerging biologics for PD. Future progress will depend on developing cargo-matched and clinically realistic delivery systems that balance brain access, therapeutic efficacy, safety, and manufacturability.

Myocardial infarction (MI) remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, often progressing to heart failure due to inadequate tissue repair and adverse remodeling. Conventional therapeutic strategies, including pharmacological interventions and surgical procedures, exhibit limited efficacy in restoring cardiac function, highlighting the urgent need for innovative approaches. Hydrogel microneedles (MNs) have recently emerged as a groundbreaking technology for MI treatment, combining the advantages of minimally invasive delivery, targeted therapy, and multifunctional integration. Furthermore, the integration of therapeutic agents into hydrogel MNs enable sequentially controlled release within the infarcted myocardium, addressing key pathological processes such as oxidative stress, inflammation, and fibrosis. Additionally, the incorporation of conductive components into hydrogel MNs facilitate the restoration of electrical signal propagation, promoting synchronized cardiomyocyte contraction and mitigating arrhythmic. This article briefly surveys the latest advancements in hydrogel MN for cardiac repair. Key issues and challenges, as well as recommendations for future research, are also discussed.

Polymer porous materials (PPMs) are an emerging class of functional biomaterials characterized by tunable pore structures, high specific surface areas, and favorable physicochemical properties. This review highlights the classification of PPMs into inorganic, organic, and organic–inorganic hybrids, with a focus on how structural features influence their biomedical performance. Due to their unique architecture and biocompatibility, PPMs have shown significant potential in various biomedical applications, including drug delivery systems, tissue engineering scaffolds and implantable devices, biosensors, and membranes for functional coating and separation systems. For drug delivery, biodegradable and stimuli-responsive PPMs offer controlled and targeted drug release while minimizing adverse effects. In tissue engineering, PPM-based scaffolds support cell adhesion, proliferation, and extracellular matrix deposition, which would subsequently promote functional tissue regeneration. For biosensing, the high surface-to-volume ratio and selective permeability of PPMs enhance detection sensitivity and specificity. Furthermore, recent advances in responsive hydrogels, antifouling filtration membranes, and bioactive coatings underscore their clinical translation potential. Despite rapid development, challenges such as precise control over pore size, mechanical–biological trade-offs, and long-term safety still remain. Addressing these limitations is critical for advancing PPMs toward clinical application in regenerative medicine, smart therapeutics, and diagnostic technologies.

Electrical stimulation can serve as a therapeutic modality, accelerating the healing of soft tissue wounds. However, endogenous electric fields are frequently found to be attenuated in chronic wounds. Consequently, exogenous electrical stimulation devices have been explored to supplement and enhance endogenous electric fields, thereby promoting faster and more robust healing of soft tissue injuries. This review outlines the generation of endogenous electric fields in wounds, the molecular mechanisms by which electric fields facilitate healing, and the roles of endogenous electric fields across various stages of tissue repair. It further highlights recent advancements in applying exogenous electrical stimulation to wound sites. Finally, we discuss the challenges and future directions for the widespread clinical implementation of exogenous electrical stimulation in soft tissue wound management.

As one of the most malignant tumors, metastatic melanoma essentially requires the regulation of the lysosomal cation channel, transient receptor potential mucolipin channel 1 (TRPML1), which is also involved in the participation of various ions, especially zinc ions. This perfectly aligns with the advanced therapeutic approach based on nanomaterials, because nanomaterials can easily integrate multiple metal elements to disrupt the internal homeostasis of various ions, eventually inhibiting the cell growth of metastatic melanoma. Hence, based on our previously proposed metalloptosis strategy, herein, zinc gallate-based nanoclusters (ZGOCs) containing both zinc and gallium were developed, capable of inducing metalloptosis. Responded to a weak-acid tumor microenvironment, ZGOCs could effectively release gallium ions that triggered ferroptosis through depleting glutathione and increasing lipid peroxidation levels. Moreover, the released zinc ions co-treated with ML-SA5, a TRPML-specific agonist, further promoted lysozincrosis. In addition, ZGOCs exhibited rechargeable afterglow luminescence, which facilitated in vivo clearer diagnostic images with high contrast for more accurate detection of tumor boundaries. Collectively, ZGOCs in combination with ML-SA5 significantly suppressed tumor growth with favorable biosafety, providing a promising metalloptosis-based strategy for the treatment of metastatic melanoma.

Gastrointestinal inflammatory diseases have a significant impact on human health and quality of life, underscoring the urgent need to develop novel treatment strategies. As emerging biomaterials, nanozymes combine the advantages of nanomaterials with enzyme-like catalytic activities, demonstrating considerable potential for managing gastrointestinal inflammation. To provide researchers with a clear and concise overview of recent advances and future directions in this area, this review systematically summarizes and discusses the progress in nanozyme applications for treating gastrointestinal inflammatory disorders, including inflammatory bowel disease, Helicobacter pylori infection, and the like. We begin by elucidating the catalytic mechanisms underlying the major types of nanozymes, including metal-based, metal–organic framework-based, and carbon-based nanozymes. Subsequently, we explore nanozyme designs that enable multifaceted therapeutic effects—including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, microbiota regulation, and barrier repair functions—through strategies such as multienzyme mimicry, targeted delivery, and stimulus-responsive activation. While challenges related to targeting precision and biosafety remain, nanozymes offer promising opportunities to overcome the limitations of conventional therapies. The review also discusses future prospects, such as artificial intelligence-assisted design, which may accelerate the development of next-generation nanozymes. We believe this work provides a valuable theoretical foundation for the design of efficient and safe nanozyme-based treatments for gastrointestinal inflammation.

Skin wound healing remains a significant clinical challenge, with traditional therapies often facing issues such as infection and secondary trauma. Thermoelectric (TE) materials possess the unique ability to convert thermal energy into electrical energy. Electrical signals generated by these materials can accelerate skin wound healing by reconstructing endogenous electric fields, modulating the inflammatory microenvironment, and promoting angiogenesis. Despite their substantial potential, a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms, biocompatibility, antimicrobial properties, and practical applications of TE materials in skin wound healing is still lacking. This review aims to highlight recent advancements in wound healing using TE materials, while integrating considerations of flexibility, biocompatibility, and antimicrobial performance to optimize TE device design. Strategies for enhancing TE performance, such as carrier concentration modulation, band engineering, and lattice thermal conductivity reduction, are discussed to balance conductivity and the Seebeck coefficient. Although challenges in biosafety and room-temperature performance regulation of inorganic materials persist, future developments in multimodal synergistic therapy, intelligent monitoring systems, and novel material design are expected to drive the clinical translation of TE materials for treating refractory wounds.

Chronic wounds resulting from burns, infections, and/or diabetes represent a significant clinical challenge due to impaired healing processes, which can lead to severe complications and even amputation. Growth factors (GFs) play crucial roles in all stages of wound healing. However, their therapeutic efficacy is compromised by rapid proteolytic degradation within the wound microenvironment, while excessive concentrations can induce detrimental side effects. Hydrogels, with their three-dimensional network structure, serve as an ideal carrier for GF delivery, protecting bioactivity and enabling controlled release. This review first summarizes the key roles of different GFs in wound healing. It then focuses on hydrogel-based GF loading strategies (noncovalent and covalent binding) and the integration of stimuli-responsive mechanisms for on-demand spatiotemporal release. Additionally, the potential of synergistic therapy combining drugs or scaffold materials with hydrogel-GF systems is discussed. Finally, the application prospects of this technology in other regenerative fields are explored.