Intelligent Silk Fibroin Based Microneedle Dressing (i‐SMD)

Abstract

Wounds, especially those caused by chronic diseases, are severe threats to human health. To facilitate their recovery, considerable efforts have been devoted to the generation of wound tissues and the detection of wound biomarkers. Here, an intelligent origami silk fibroin microneedle-structured dressing (i-SMD) with a smart drug release system, biochemical sensing, and physiological monitoring ability for epidermal sensing and wound healing, is presented. By utilizing temperature-responsive N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAM) hydrogel and inverse opal (IO) photonic crystals (PCs) as a smart drug release system, controllable drug release is achieved on the i-SMD. The patterned microfluidic channels on the i-SMD and IO PCs enable the liquid to flow spontaneously in the channels, thereby achieving sensitive multiple biochemical analysis of inflammatory factors; meanwhile, microelectronic circuits integrated on the i-SMD enable sensitive motion monitoring. Notably, the performance of i-SMD in facilitating wound healing is demonstrated by treating full-thickness cutaneous wounds in a diabetic mouse model, indicating the remarkable prospects of i-SMD in wound management and other related biomedical fields.

Wound healing applications of creams and “smart” hydrogels

“…This new intelligent dressing allowed the monitoring of multiple inflammatory factors and wound motion (such as stretching) and the controlled release of drugs, which lead to a faster recovery rate in diabetic mice. 102 Skin-wound therapy can also be revolutionized by nextgeneration technology such as four-dimensional (4D) printing.…”

“…This new intelligent dressing allowed the monitoring of multiple inflammatory factors and wound motion (such as stretching) and the controlled release of drugs, which lead to a faster recovery rate in diabetic mice. 102 …”

Novel Conformal Skin Patch with Embedded Thin-Film Electrodes for Early Detection of Extravasation

“…The piglet was first sedated before a syringe pump was used to inject up to 6 mL of a saline solution into the piglet. For application of the sensor patch to extravasation detection, the ability of a sensor patch to detect less than 5 mL of infused volume in human is considered a substantial improvement over existing methods [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ].…”

“…Wearable sensor development for various medical and wellness applications is a growing trend. Examples of such sensors include skin patches for epidermal vital sign monitoring systems and wound monitoring [ 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 ]. In the current study, a novel sensor patch system is proposed for the early detection of extravasation.…”

Microneedle arrays integrated with living organisms for smart biomedical applications

“…For example, extracts from silk (sericin and fibroin) are demonstrated to have a variety of biological activities for promoting cellular proliferation and inhibiting apoptosis, and thus benefit tissue regeneration 109 - 111 . Researchers have started to fabricate MNAs using this kind of material for wound recovery, drug delivery, vaccination and so on 112 - 114 . (2) The materials should not compromise the normal functions of the living organisms, given that the MNA matrix mainly serves as microenvironments for the encapsulated organisms.…”