Natural hydrogels, due to their unique biological properties, have been used extensively for
various medical and clinical examinations that are performed to investigate the signs of disease. Recently,
complex-crosslinking strategies improved the mechanical properties and advanced approaches
have resulted in the introduction of naturally derived hydrogels that exhibit high biocompatibility, with
shape memory and self-healing characteristics. Moreover, the creation of self-assembled natural hydrogels
under physiological conditions has provided the opportunity to engineer fine-tuning properties. To
highlight recent studies of natural-based hydrogels and their applications for medical investigation, a
critical review was undertaken using published papers from the Science Direct database. This review
presents different natural-based hydrogels (natural, natural-synthetic hybrid and complex-crosslinked
hydrogels), their historical evolution, and recent studies of medical examination applications. The application
of natural-based hydrogels in the design and fabrication of biosensors, catheters and medical
electrodes, detection of cancer, targeted delivery of imaging compounds (bioimaging) and fabrication
of fluorescent bioprobes is summarised here. Without doubt, in future, more useful and practical concepts
will be derived to identify natural-based hydrogels for a wide range of clinical examination applications.
Polymeric nanocapsules with up-converting nanocrystals cargo make ideal fluorescent bioprobes
