# Smart Hydrogels for Treatment of Microbial Diseases **Authors:** Burak Ünlü, Jose Luis Ropero-Vega, Juan Manuel Alvarez-Caballero, Johanna Marcela Flórez-Castillo, Serbülent Türk PMC · DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics18020198 · 2026-02-03 ## TL;DR Smart hydrogels are responsive materials that can help treat microbial diseases by controlling drug release and reducing antimicrobial resistance. ## Contribution This review investigates the preparation, types, and applications of smart hydrogels in treating microbial diseases. ## Key findings - Smart hydrogels can respond to stimuli like temperature, pH, and light without harming the body. - They offer efficient strategies for drug release and biofilm disruption, reducing antimicrobial resistance. - Structural modifications have enhanced their multi-responsive and adhesive properties for biomedical use. ## Abstract Smart hydrogels, which combine hydrogel properties such as biocompatibility, high drug loading capacity, and injectability while being responsive to external stimuli, are a subclass of smart materials. Smart hydrogels respond to effects that are not harmful to the human body, such as temperature, pH, light, and biomolecules. Furthermore, some smart hydrogels possess dual-responsive properties or can be multifunctional, exhibiting both adhesive and responsive behavior to external stimuli. Smart hydrogels have made groundbreaking advances in the field of biomedical. They have been improved through structural modifications and by gaining the ability to be multi-responsive. Controlling drug release and biofilm disruption by using these smart hydrogels is one of the efficient strategies to reduce antimicrobial resistance and the number of deaths caused by microbial diseases. In this review, the preparation of smart hydrogels, their various types and applications in the treatment of microbial diseases were investigated. ## Full-text entities - **Genes:** catalase [NCBI Gene 28381092] - **Diseases:** Microbial Diseases (MESH:D015163), hyperthermia (MESH:D005334), burn (MESH:D002056), otitis media (MESH:D010033), injury to (MESH:D014947), inflammation (MESH:D007249), periodontitis (MESH:D010518), skin injuries (MESH:D000069836), diabetes (MESH:D003920), cancer (MESH:D009369), bacterial infection (MESH:D001424), infectious (MESH:D003141), MRSA (MESH:D013203), invasive candidiasis (MESH:D058365), deaths (MESH:D003643), infected (MESH:D007239), ulcer (MESH:D014456), infected wounds (MESH:D014946), cytotoxic (MESH:D064420) - **Chemicals:** gluconic acid (MESH:C030691), ZnO (MESH:D015034), Schiff base (MESH:D012545), PMAA (MESH:C030613), N-hydroxysuccinimide (MESH:C001426), 5-fluorouracil (MESH:D005472), azobenzene (MESH:C009850), water (MESH:D014867), polyaniline (MESH:C416807), phthalocyanine (MESH:C013647), essential oils (MESH:D009822), alpha-cyclodextrin (MESH:C032613), succinic anhydride (MESH:C031801), PAA (MESH:C006903), carbodiimide (MESH:D002234), peptides (MESH:D010455), catechol (MESH:C034221), Fe (MESH:D007501), ferulic acid (MESH:C004999), Sodium dodecyl sulphate (MESH:D012967), guluronic acid (MESH:C007896), epsilon-Polylysine (MESH:D011107), acetic acid (MESH:D019342), Cu (MESH:D003300), CMCS (MESH:C514968), PVP (MESH:D011205), bromothymol blue (MESH:D001979), PDA (MESH:C568283), CaCl2 (MESH:D002122), oligonucleotide (MESH:D009841), teichoic acid (MESH:D013682), Ag (MESH:D012834), PVME (MESH:C510739), NaOH (MESH:D012972), hyaluronan (MESH:D006820), glycyrrhizic acid (MESH:D019695), Aldehyde (MESH:D000447), acrylamide (MESH:D020106), xanthan gum (MESH:C002563), methicillin (MESH:D008712), amoxicillin (MESH:D000658), acrylate (MESH:C036658), N-Isopropylacrylamide (MESH:C067295), Au (MESH:D006046), ibuprofen (MESH:D007052), NaCl (MESH:D012965), Pt (MESH:D010984), metal (MESH:D008670), Alginate (MESH:D000464), Zn (MESH:D015032), maleic acid (MESH:C030272), rhodamine (MESH:D012235), oxygen (MESH:D010100), aminoglycoside (MESH:D000617), salt (MESH:D012492), Chitosan (MESH:D048271), hesperidin (MESH:D006569), PEG (MESH:D011092), diamine (MESH:D003959), Mupirocin (MESH:D016712) - **Species:** Streptococcus pneumoniae (species) [taxon 1313], Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1 (strain) [taxon 208964], Fungi (kingdom) [taxon 4751], aureus [taxon 46170], Fusarium solani (species) [taxon 169388], Candida albicans (species) [taxon 5476], Pichia kudriavzevii (species) [taxon 4909], Escherichia coli (E. coli, species) [taxon 562], Bacillus subtilis (species) [taxon 1423], Mus musculus (house mouse, species) [taxon 10090], Nakaseomyces glabratus (species) [taxon 5478], Pseudomonas aeruginosa (species) [taxon 287], Azotobacter vinelandii (species) [taxon 354], Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker's yeast, species) [taxon 4932], Klebsiella pneumoniae (species) [taxon 573], Canis lupus familiaris (dog, subspecies) [taxon 9615], Porphyromonas gingivalis (species) [taxon 837], Bacteria Latreille et al. 1825 (Bacteria stick insect, genus) [taxon 629395], Phaeophyceae (brown algae, class) [taxon 2870], Rattus norvegicus (brown rat, species) [taxon 10116], Staphylococcus aureus (species) [taxon 1280], Staphylococcus epidermidis (species) [taxon 1282], Candida [taxon 1535326], Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606] ## Figures 3 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12944200/full.md --- Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12944200