Injectable natural polymer-based hydrogels: A promising minimally invasive therapy for future neural tissue repair

Neural tissue repair remains a formidable challenge due to the limited regenerative capacity of the central and peripheral nervous systems. Although biomaterial-based strategies have achieved significant progress, current research on hydrogels for neural repair remains fragmented and lacks systematic integration. Injectable hydrogels derived from natural polymers combine excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability, and biomimetic properties with the advantages of minimally invasive, localized delivery, closely mimicking the neural extracellular matrix and providing a robust platform for neural tissue engineering. This review systematically summarizes the classification, design strategies, functional advantages, and recent advances of natural polymer-based injectable hydrogels for neural repair. Recently, the integration of artificial intelligence with hydrogels has enabled full-process optimization from material design to biological response, promoting controlled, measurable, and personalized interventions, and offering innovative strategies for functional enhancement and precision medicine. Accordingly, we further discuss the advantages and potential of AI-driven hydrogel design for neural repair, and analyze the key technical and clinical challenges in translating natural polymer-based injectable hydrogels from the laboratory to the clinic, including mechanical and electrophysiological matching, long-term stability, biocompatibility, and scalable production, while proposing potential solutions to guide the development of next-generation intelligent neural repair platforms.