Scoping Review of the Biomedical Investigations of Cellulose Nanocrystal-Based Hydrogels: A Critical Analysis of Current Evidence, Research Gaps and Future Perspectives

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

• Level A · Stronger Clinical Evidence
• Level B · Emerging clinical evidence with positive signals
• Level C · Early human research exploring benefits
• Level D · Scientific groundwork from lab and animal studies
• Emerging · Emerging topic under active research

Abstract (original English)

Hydrogel-based products are used in many areas of biomedicine and healthcare. Recently, the incorporation of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC), a renewable and functional nanomaterial, into hydrogels has enhanced their functionality, particularly by imparting mechanical strength and structural integrity. This scoping review aims to appraise the types of biomedical models and assays that have been utilised to investigate the effects of CNC incorporation into hydrogels in tissue engineering, wound healing, medical implantation and drug delivery applications, and reports on the rationale for including these models and assays. A structured literature search was undertaken in major scientific databases (PubMed Central, PubMed, BioMed Central, ScienceDirect, Wiley and EBSCOhost), focusing on identifying primary research published between 2016 and 2024. From this process, fifteen studies providing biomedical analyses met the inclusion criteria. Most of these investigations employed in vitro cell-line models ( n = 12), with a smaller number utilising in vivo experimental systems ( n = 5). Across the included studies, CNC incorporation typically yielded measurable performance gains: reported compressive or storage modulus improvements of 20-40% over hydrogel-only controls, consistently high cell viability (>85%) across multiple human and murine cell types for up to 21 days, and sustained dru

Evidence level

Evidence from laboratory and animal studies provides groundwork for understanding mechanisms and potential before human studies continue.

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