Recent Advances in Gelatin Methacryloyl Hydrogels for Bone Regeneration

The repair of bone defects has been the focus of research at home and abroad in recent years. Gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogels, with their good biocompatibility, low cost, photo-cross-linking structure, and easily adjustable physicochemical property, have been widely used in bone regeneration. GelMA hydrogels can overcome issues such as inadequate mechanical property, poor bioactivity, and uncontrolled degradation through various strategies. This paper presents a systematic review of recent advances in GelMA hydrogels in the field of bone defect repair, covering the preparation of GelMA hydrogels and the effect of reaction conditions on the property, the loading and controlled release of GelMA hydrogels (drugs, cells, growth factors, exosomes), material hybridization (organic nanomaterials, inorganic nanomaterials, organic and inorganic hybrid materials) of GelMA hydrogels, structural modulation (electrostatic spinning, microspheres, 3D printing), as well as the mechanism of osteogenic activity (vascular, neural, immunomodulation) in bone defects. Finally, we summarized this article and looked forward to the prospects and challenges of GelMA hydrogel in repairing bone defects.