Crafting Polymeric and Peptidic Hydrogels for Improved Wound Healing

Abstract

Wound healing is a multifaceted biological process involving the replacement of damaged tissues and cellular structures, restoring the skin barrier's function, and maintaining internal homeostasis. Over the past two decades, numerous approaches are undertaken to improve the quality and healing rate of complex acute and chronic wounds, including synthetic and natural polymeric scaffolds, skin grafts, and supramolecular hydrogels. In this context, this review assesses the advantages and drawbacks of various types of supramolecular hydrogels including both polymeric and peptide‐based hydrogels for wound healing applications. The molecular design features of natural and synthetic polymers are examined, as well as therapeutic‐based and drug‐free peptide hydrogels, and the strategies for each system are analyzed to integrate key elements such as biocompatibility, bioactivity, stimuli‐responsiveness, site specificity, biodegradability, and clearance.

Fabrication techniques of biomimetic scaffolds in three‐dimensional cell culture: A review

“…ELSP can produce a nanofibrous scaffold that is highly desirable for tissue engineering (Shah Hosseini et al, 2018). In wound healing applications, ELSP technology allows facile surface modification of electrospun nanofibers and incorporation of biomolecules such as GFs and ECM proteins through adsorption (Stern & Cui, 2019). A study also shows the preparation of methacrylated hyaluronic acid solution using electrospinning to generate biochemical cues like cellular polarity, signaling, secretion of soluble factors are necessary for human mesenchymal cell culturing (Ifkovits, Sundararaghavan, & Burdick, 2009).…”

Antibacterial Hybrid Hydrogels

“…Specifically, as potential dressing materials, some biocompatible hydrogels are similar to the extracellular matrixes and effectively promote wound healing. [ 98–100 ] Generally, a wound healing process often involves four distinctive stages: hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and matrix remodeling. [ 101 ] The wound area is usually accompanied by bacterial infection.…”

Simultaneous wound border segmentation and tissue classification using a conditional generative adversarial network

“…Wound management technologies are an essential part of the treatment of chronic wounds, which affect around 6.5 million patients at the cost of $25 billion yearly in the United States. [1]. However, they are lagging technologically, and most caregivers only depend on imprecise optical assessment [2], which brings some complications, such as infection risks, inaccurate measurements, and discomfort to patients [3].…”