Conductive polymeric film loaded with ibuprofen as a wound dressing material

Novel theranostic wounds dressing based on pH responsive alginate hydrogel/graphene oxide/levofloxacin modified silk

Integrating pH sensor with controlled antibiotic release is fabricated on silk to create a theranostic wound dressing. Alginate (ALG) hydrogel and graphene oxide (GO) loaded with levofloxacin (LVX) and a pH indicator are applied to fabricate a pH-responsive theranostic wound dressing. The modified silk color changes from yellow to green in response to elevated skin pH, indicating the skin infection. The semi-quantitative analysis was conducted using ImageJ, revealing significant color changes across the wide range. At elevated pH levels, the ionization of the COOH bonds within ALG induces repulsion among the COO- groups, thereby accelerating the release of the incorporated drug compared to release under lower pH. At an infected pH of 8, ALG hydrogel triggers LVX releasing up to 135.86 ± 0.3 µg, while at a normal pH of 7, theranostic silk releases 123.13 ± 0.26 µg. Incorporating GO onto silk fibers enhances LVX loading and sustains LVX release. Furthermore, these modified silks possess antimicrobial abilities without causing irritation or allergies on the human skin. This theranostic silks represents a major step forward in smart wound care, introducing a versatile platform of smart wound care.

Alginate/hyaluronic acid/gelatin ternary blended films as pH-sensitive drug carriers: In vitro ampicillin release and kinetic studies

Researchers continuously focused on the fabrication of innovative drug delivery systems to prevent microbial infections while minimizing systemic side effects. Among these, pH-sensitive antibiotic release systems based on bio-based materials have gained great attention due to their ability to precisely modulate drug kinetics and enhance therapeutic efficacy. Herein, pH-sensitive alginate/hyaluronic acid/gelatin ternary blended films were fabricated for the controlled release of ampicillin. Swelling capacity, hydrolytic degradation profile, pH reversibility and in vitro ampicillin release behavior of produced films were investigated in both simulated gastric (pH 1.2) and intestinal (pH 7.4) environments. The cumulative release amount of ampicillin at pH 1.2 (61.0 ± 1.07 mg drug/g polymer) was greater than that of at pH 7.4 (43.0 ± 1.05 mg drug/g polymer) proved that release behavior of ampicillin for produced films is pH-dependent. Based on the fitted release data, best fit was found as the first-order kinetic model with the highest R2 values of 0.966 and 0.962 for both pH conditions. According to Korsmeyer-Peppas model, drug release mechanism is also controlled by case II-transport. Furthermore, produced films demonstrated excellent cytocompatibility. All results revealed that obtained films could be a promising drug carrier to traditional targeting systems for site-specific, pH-sensitive ampicillin delivery in both gastric and intestine.

An adhesion-switchable hydrogel dressing for painless dressing removal without secondary damage

Hydrogels with strong adhesion to wet tissues are considered promising for wound dressings. However, the clinical application of adhesive hydrogel dressing remains a challenge due to the issues of secondary damage during dressing changes. Herein, we fabricated an adhesion-switchable hydrogel formed with poly(acrylamide)-co-poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide), quaternary ammonium chitosan and tannic acid. This hydrogel forms instant and robust adhesion to the skin at body temperature. However, as the temperature rises above the lower critical solution temperature (LCST), the hydrogel loses its adhesion towards the wound area due to the temperature-dependent volume phase transition of the copolymer, occurring around 45 °C. Consequently, the designed hydrogel can be easily detached from adhered tissues upon demand, providing a facile and effective method for painless dressing changes without secondary damage. This hydrogel holds great promise for long-term application in wound dressings.

Design, optimization and pharmaceutical characterization of wound healing film dressings with chloramphenicol and ibuprofen

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the present study was to develop and optimize a wound dressing film loaded with chloramphenicol (CAM) and ibuprofen (IBU) using a Quality by Design (QbD) approach.

SIGNIFICANCE

The two drugs have been combined in the same dressing as they address two critical aspects of the wound healing process, namely prevention of bacterial infection and reduction of inflammation and pain related to injury.

METHODS

Three critical formulation variables were identified, namely the ratios of Kollicoat SR 30D, polyethylene glycol 400 and polyvinyl alcohol. These variables were further considered as factors of an experimental design, and 17 formulations loaded with CAM and IBU were prepared via solvent casting. The films were characterized in terms of dimensions, mechanical properties and bioadhesion. Additionally, the optimal formulation was characterized regarding tensile properties, swelling behavior, water vapor transmission rate, surface morphology, thermal behavior, goniometry, in vitro drug release, cell viability, and antibacterial activity.

RESULTS

The film was optimized by setting minimal values for the folding endurance, adhesive force and hardness. The optimally formulated film showed good fluid handling properties in terms of swelling behavior and water vapor transmission rate. IBU and CAM were released from the film up to 80.9% and 82.5% for 8 h. The film was nontoxic, and the antibacterial activity was prominent against Micrococcus spp. and Streptococcus pyogenes.

CONCLUSIONS

The QbD approach was successfully implemented to develop and optimize a novel film dressing promising for the treatment of low-exuding acute wounds prone to infection and inflammation.

Fabrication of bioinspired keratin/sodium alginate based biopolymeric mat loaded with herbal drug and green synthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles as a dual drug antimicrobial wound dressing

Dual drug antibacterial wound dressings with biological materials possess crucial wound healing characteristics including biocompatibility, non-toxicity, degradability, mechanical strength and antibacterial properties. The study focusses on fabricating keratin (K)‑sodium alginate (A) based wound dressings by loading green synthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) using C. roseus (leaf extract) and M. recutita (Chamomile flower part) herbal drug (CH) as a bioactive dual antibacterial wound dressing for the first time. The optimized ZnO NPs and CH exhibits strong physiochemical and electrostatic interactions (FT-IR, XRD and SEM) on the fabricated K-A-CH-ZnO biopolymeric mats. Moreover, the tiny porous network of the biopolymeric mat enhances thermal stability, hydrophilicity, mechanical strength and explores the water vapor transmission (2538.07 g/m2/day) and oxygen permeability (7.38 ± 0.31 g/m2) to maintain moist environment and cell-material interactions. During enzymatic degradation studies, ZnO NPs and CH of biopolymeric mat not only retains structural integrity but also increases the characteristic of swelling with sustained drug release (57 %) in 144 h which accelerates wound healing process. Also, K-A-CH-ZnO mat exhibited excellent antibacterial effects against B. subtilis and E. coli. Furthermore, NIH 3T3 fibroblast cell behavior using MTT assay and in vivo evaluations of biopolymeric mat depicted enhanced biocompatibility with increased collagen deposition at the wound site as a prominent dual drug medicated antimicrobial wound dressing.

Advances in Functional Hydrogel Wound Dressings: A Review

One of the most advanced, promising, and commercially viable research issues in the world of hydrogel dressing is gaining functionality to achieve improved therapeutic impact or even intelligent wound repair. In addition to the merits of ordinary hydrogel dressings, functional hydrogel dressings can adjust their chemical/physical properties to satisfy different wound types, carry out the corresponding reactions to actively create a healing environment conducive to wound repair, and can also control drug release to provide a long-lasting benefit. Although a lot of in-depth research has been conducted over the last few decades, very few studies have been properly summarized. In order to give researchers a basic blueprint for designing functional hydrogel dressings and to motivate them to develop ever-more intelligent wound dressings, we summarized the development of functional hydrogel dressings in recent years, as well as the current situation and future trends, in light of their preparation mechanisms and functional effects.

Electro-stimulated drug release by methacrylated hyaluronic acid-based conductive hydrogel with enhanced mechanical properties

Recently, the design of stimuli-responsive hydrogels for controlled drug delivery systems has been extensively investigated to meet therapeutic needs and optimize the release pattern of the drug. Being a natural polyelectrolyte, hyaluronic acid (HA) is excellent potential to generate new opportunities for electro-responsive drug carrier applications. In the current study, HA-based electroconductive hydrogel was developed as a novel smart drug carrier for anti-inflammatory drug release by the combination of in-situ and post polymerization mechanisms. HA was modified through methacrylation reaction to introduce photocrosslinkable groups into its structure and then reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was encapsulated into methacrylated HA (HA/MA) hydrogel by using the photopolymerization technique. In the post polymerization process, polyaniline (PANI) was incorporated/loaded into HA/MA-rGO polymeric network produced in previous step. The produced HA/MA-rGO-PANI hydrogel exhibited sufficient electrical conductivity providing the desirable electro-responsive ability for Ibuprofen (IBU) release. Furthermore, it has superior mechanical performance compared to pure (HA/MA) and rGO containing (HA/MA-rGO) hydrogels. IBU release from the hydrogel was successfully triggered by electrical stimulation and the cumulative drug release also enhanced by increasing of the applied voltage. These results highlighted that the novel HA/MA-rGO-PANI hydrogel could be a promising candidate for electrical-stimulated anti-inflammatory release systems in neural implant applications.

The wound healing effect of botanicals and pure natural substances used in in vivo models

Repairing the wound is a multistep process that includes the spatial and temporal synchronization of a different range of cell types to increase the speed of wound contraction, the proliferation of epithelial cells, and collagen formation. The need for proper management of acute wounds to be cured and not turned into chronic wounds is a significant clinical challenge. The traditional practice of medicinal plants in many regions of the world has been used in wound healing since ancient times. Recent scientific research introduced evidence of the efficacy of medicinal plants, their phyto-components, and the mechanisms underlying their wound-repairing activity. This review aims to briefly highlight the wound-curing effect of different plant extracts and purely natural substances in excision, incision, and burn experimental animal models with or without infection of mice, rats (diabetic and nondiabetic), and rabbits in the last 5 years. The in vivo studies represented reliable evidence of how powerful natural products are in healing wounds properly. They have good scavenging activity against Reactive oxygen species (ROS) and anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial effects that help in the process of wound healing. It is evident that incorporating bioactive natural products into wound dressings of bio- or synthetic polymers in nanofiber, hydrogel, film, scaffold, and sponge forms showed promising results in different phases of the wound-curing process of haemostasis, inflammation, growth, re-epithelialization, and remodelling.

Efficacy of Graphene-Based Nanocomposite Gels as a Promising Wound Healing Biomaterial

The development of biocompatible nanocomposite hydrogels with effective wound healing/microbicidal properties is needed to bring out their distinguished characteristics in clinical applications. The positive interaction between graphene oxide/reduced graphene oxide (GO/rGO) and hydrogels and aloe vera gel represents a strong strategy for the advancement of therapeutic approaches for wound healing. In this study, the synthesis, characterization, and angiogenic properties of graphene-based nanocomposite gels have been corroborated and substantiated through several in vitro and in vivo assays. In this respect, graphene oxide was synthesized by incorporating a modified Hummer's method and ascertained by Raman spectroscopy. The obtained GO and rGO were uniformly dispersed into the aloe vera gel and hydrogel, respectively, as wound healing materials. These formulations were characterized via in vitro bio-chemical techniques and were found suitable for the appropriate cell viability, attachment, and proliferation. In addition, in vivo experiments were conducted using male Wistar rats. This revealed that the GO/rGO-based gels stimulated wound contraction and re-epithelialization compared to that of the non-treatment group. From the study, it is suggested that GO/rGO-based aloe vera gel can be recommended as a promising candidate for wound healing applications.

A comprehensive review on the applications of carbon-based nanostructures in wound healing: from antibacterial aspects to cell growth stimulation

A wound is defined as damage to the integrity of biological tissue, including skin, mucous membranes, and organ tissues. The treatment of these injuries is an important challenge for medical researchers. Various materials have been used for wound healing and dressing applications among which carbon nanomaterials have attracted significant attention due to their remarkable properties. In the present review, the latest studies on the application of carbon nanomaterials including graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (rGO), carbon dots (CDs), carbon quantum dots (CQDs), carbon nanotubes (CNTs), carbon nanofibers (CNFs), and nanodiamonds (NDs) in wound dressing applications are evaluated. Also, a variety of carbon-based nanocomposites with advantages such as biocompatibility, hemocompatibility, reduced wound healing time, antibacterial properties, cell-adhesion, enhanced mechanical properties, and enhanced permeability to oxygen has been reported for the treatment of various wounds.

Electrospun nanofibers with antibacterial properties for wound dressings

The antibacterial nanofibers have been proposed as an interesting material for wound healing management, since the majority of traditional wound dressings exhibit issues and complications such as infection, pain, discomfort, and poor adhesive proprieties. It allows the organism's passage through the dressing and delay the wound healing progression. Electrospun nanofibers have been intensively investigated for wound dressings in tissue engineering applications due to their distinctive features and structural similarities to the extracellular matrix including the various available methods to load the antibacterial compounds onto the nanofiber webs. To construct an effective electrospun wound dressing, various efforts have been made to design different strategies to develop advanced polymers, such as employing synthetic and/or natural materials, modifying fiber orientation, and incorporating chemicals and metallic nanoparticles (NPs) as intriguing materials for antibacterial bandages. Thus, this review summarizes the relevant recent studies on the production of electrospun antibacterial nanofibers from a wide variety of polymers used in biomedical applications for wound dressings.

Gellan Gum in Wound Dressing Scaffolds

Several factors, such as bacterial infections, underlying conditions, malnutrition, obesity, ageing, and smoking are the most common issues that cause a delayed process of wound healing. Developing wound dressings that promote an accelerated wound healing process and skin regeneration is crucial. The properties of wound dressings that make them suitable for the acceleration of the wound healing process include good antibacterial efficacy, excellent biocompatibility, and non-toxicity, the ability to provide a moist environment, stimulating cell migration and adhesion, and providing gaseous permeation. Biopolymers have demonstrated features appropriate for the development of effective wound dressing scaffolds. Gellan gum is one of the biopolymers that has attracted great attention in biomedical applications. The wound dressing materials fabricated from gellan gum possess outstanding properties when compared to traditional dressings, such as good biocompatibility, biodegradability, non-toxicity, renewability, and stable nature. This biopolymer has been broadly employed for the development of wound dressing scaffolds in different forms. This review discusses the physicochemical and biological properties of gellan gum-based scaffolds in the management of wounds.

Recent Progress in Electrospun Polyacrylonitrile Nanofiber-Based Wound Dressing

Bleeding control plays a very important role in worldwide healthcare, which also promotes research and development of wound dressings. The wound healing process involves four stages of hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation and remodeling, which is a complex process, and wound dressings play a huge role in it. Electrospinning technology is simple to operate. Electrospun nanofibers have a high specific surface area, high porosity, high oxygen permeability, and excellent mechanical properties, which show great utilization value in the manufacture of wound dressings. As one of the most popular reactive and functional synthetic polymers, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) is frequently explored to create nanofibers for a wide variety of applications. In recent years, researchers have invested in the application of PAN nanofibers in wound dressings. Research on spun nanofibers is reviewed, and future development directions and prospects of electrospun PAN nanofibers for wound dressings are proposed.

Nanomaterials for application in wound Healing: current state-of-the-art and future perspectives

Nanoparticles are the gateway to the new era in drug delivery of biocompatible agents. Several products have emerged from nanomaterials in quest of developing practical wound healing dressings that are nonantigenic, antishear stress, and gas-exchange permeable. Numerous studies have isolated and characterised various wound healing nanomaterials and nanoproducts. The electrospinning of natural and synthetic materials produces fine products that can be mixed with other wound healing medications and herbs. Various produced nanomaterials are highly influential in wound healing experimental models and can be used commercially as well. This article reviewed the current state-of-the-art and briefly specified the future concerns regarding the different systems of nanomaterials in wound healing (i.e., inorganic nanomaterials, organic and hybrid nanomaterials, and nanofibers). This review may be a comprehensive guidance to help health care professionals identify the proper wound healing materials to avoid the usual wound complications.

Conductive Biomaterials as Bioactive Wound Dressing for Wound Healing and Skin Tissue Engineering

Conductive biomaterials based on conductive polymers, carbon nanomaterials, or conductive inorganic nanomaterials demonstrate great potential in wound healing and skin tissue engineering, owing to the similar conductivity to human skin, good antioxidant and antibacterial activities, electrically controlled drug delivery, and photothermal effect. However, a review highlights the design and application of conductive biomaterials for wound healing and skin tissue engineering is lacking. In this review, the design and fabrication methods of conductive biomaterials with various structural forms including film, nanofiber, membrane, hydrogel, sponge, foam, and acellular dermal matrix for applications in wound healing and skin tissue engineering and the corresponding mechanism in promoting the healing process were summarized. The approaches that conductive biomaterials realize their great value in healing wounds via three main strategies (electrotherapy, wound dressing, and wound assessment) were reviewed. The application of conductive biomaterials as wound dressing when facing different wounds including acute wound and chronic wound (infected wound and diabetic wound) and for wound monitoring is discussed in detail. The challenges and perspectives in designing and developing multifunctional conductive biomaterials are proposed as well.

Design of Alginate-Based Bionanocomposites with Electrical Conductivity for Active Food Packaging

Bionanocomposite materials have been designed as a promising route to enhance biopolymer properties, especially for food packaging application. The present study reports the preparation of bionanocomposite films of alginate with different loadings of pure reduced graphene oxide (rGO) or of mixed zinc oxide-rGO (ZnO-rGO) fillers by solvent casting. Sepiolite is used to make compatible rGO with the hydrophilic matrix. The addition of fillers to alginate matrix maintains the low water solubility promoted by the calcium chloride treatment, and, additionally, they demonstrate a weaker mechanical properties, and a slight increase in water vapor permeability and wettability. Due to the properties of ZnO-rGO, the alginate bionanocomposites show an increase of electrical conductivity with the increase of filler content. While the highest electrical conductivity (0.1 S/m) is achieved by the in-plane measurement, it is in the through-plane measurement the remarkable enhancement of almost 30 times greater than the alginate film. With 50% of ZnO-rGO filler, the bionanocomposites present the highest antioxidant and antibacterial activities. The combination of electrical conductivity with bioactive properties makes these films promising not only to extend food shelf-life but also to allow packaged food sterilization at low temperature.

A Critical Review on Polymeric Biomaterials for Biomedical Applications

Natural and synthetic polymers have been explored for many years in the field of tissue engineering and regeneration. Researchers have developed many new strategies to design successful advanced polymeric biomaterials. In this review, we summarized the recent notable advancements in the preparation of smart polymeric biomaterials with self-healing and shape memory properties. We also discussed novel approaches used to develop different forms of polymeric biomaterials such as films, hydrogels and 3D printable biomaterials. In each part, the applications of the biomaterials in soft and hard tissue engineering with their in vitro and in vivo effects are underlined. The future direction of the polymeric biomaterials that could pave a path towards successful clinical implications is also underlined in this review.

Physically crosslinked PVA/graphene-based materials/aloe vera hydrogel with antibacterial activity

Burn is a major skin injury that occurs worldwide. For second-degree burns, special treatment should be given for creating a suitable wound healing environment. Hydrogel wound dressing as the primary care should possess extra properties that include antibacterial activity and cytocompatibility to enhance the treatment effectiveness. Additional therapy such as electrical stimulation can be applied as well promote wound healing. Herein, we used the tissue engineering concept to create a novel antibacterial and cytocompatible hydrogel made of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), graphene-based material (GBM), and aloe vera extract (Av) through the freeze-thaw process. We prepared the PVA/GBM/Av hydrogel and examined its potential as a wound dressing. We found that it exhibited excellent hydrophilicity with a contact angle between 15 and 31 degrees and electrical conductivity within the range of 0.0102-0.0154 S m-1, which is comparable to that of the human skin tissue and possesses tensile strength up to 1.5 MPa with elongation of 405%. It also demonstrated good stability in phosphate buffer saline with a weight ratio of 73-80% after 14 days of immersion. We presented that the addition of graphene and graphene oxide (GO) inhibited the growth of Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538 with the lowest bacterial population observed in PVA/GO, which is 1.74 × 107 cfu mL-1 after 1 day incubation and 99.94% bacterial reduction. Furthermore, our PVA/GBM/Av showed no toxicity to 3T3 fibroblast cells after 48 h with viability up to 295% for PVA/GO/Av. In summary, our fabricated hydrogels have shown their potential as wound dressing with antibacterial and non-cytotoxic properties.

Use of electroconductive biomaterials for engineering tissues by 3D printing and 3D bioprinting

Existing methods of engineering alternatives to restore or replace damaged or lost tissues are not satisfactory due to the lack of suitable constructs that can fit precisely, function properly and integrate into host tissues. Recently, three-dimensional (3D) bioprinting approaches have been developed to enable the fabrication of pre-programmed synthetic tissue constructs that have precise geometries and controlled cellular composition and spatial distribution. New bioinks with electroconductive properties have the potential to influence cellular fates and function for directed healing of different tissue types including bone, heart and nervous tissue with the possibility of improved outcomes. In the present paper, we review the use of electroconductive biomaterials for the engineering of tissues via 3D printing and 3D bioprinting. Despite significant advances, there remain challenges to effective tissue replacement and we address these challenges and describe new approaches to advanced tissue engineering.

Electrospun Nanofibers/Nanofibrous Scaffolds Loaded with Silver Nanoparticles as Effective Antibacterial Wound Dressing Materials

The treatment of wounds is expensive and challenging. Most of the available wound dressings are not effective and suffer from limitations such as poor antimicrobial activity, toxicity, inability to provide suitable moisture to the wound and poor mechanical performance. The use of inappropriate wound dressings can result in a delayed wound healing process. Nanosize range scaffolds have triggered great attention because of their attractive properties, which include their capability to deliver bioactive agents, high surface area, improved mechanical properties, mimic the extracellular matrix (ECM), and high porosity. Nanofibrous materials can be further encapsulated/loaded with metal-based nanoparticles to enhance their therapeutic outcomes in wound healing applications. The widely studied metal-based nanoparticles, silver nanoparticles exhibit good properties such as outstanding antibacterial activity, display antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties, support cell growth, making it an essential bioactive agent in wound dressings. This review article reports the biological (in vivo and in vitro) and mechanical outcomes of nanofibrous scaffolds loaded with silver nanoparticles on wound healing.

A Recent Update on Drug Delivery Systems for Pain Management

Pain remains a global health challenge affecting approximately 1.5 billion people worldwide. Pain has been an implicit variable in the equation of human life for many centuries considering different types and the magnitude of pain. Therefore, developing an efficacious drug delivery system for pain management remains an open challenge for researchers in the field of medicine. Lack of therapeutic efficacy still persists, despite high throughput studies in the field of pain management. Research scientists have been exploiting different alternatives to curb the adverse side effects of pain medications or attempting a more substantial approach to minimize the prevalence of pain. Various drug delivery systems have been developed such as nanoparticles, microparticles to curb adverse side effects of pain medications or minimize the prevalence of pain. This literature review firstly provides a brief introduction of pain as a sensation and its pharmacological interventions. Second, it highlights the most recent studies in the pharmaceutical field for pain management and serves as a strong base for future developments. Herein, we have classified drug delivery systems based on their sizes such as nano, micro, and macro systems, and for each of the reviewed systems, design, formulation strategies, and drug release performance has been discussed.

Hydrogel-assisted delivery of lipophilic molecules into aqueous medium for transdermal medication based on environment-specific, regioselective adsorption of graphene oxides

Graphene oxide (GO)-laden agarose composite hydrogels (GOACHs) were utilized to deliver lipophilic molecules from organic to aqueous media without alteration of the lipophilic nature of the molecules and the hydrophilic nature of the GOACHs. After the agarose host networks of the GOACHs were impregnated with the non-polar organic solution of lipophilic molecules via stepwise solvent exchange, their GO guests wielded the edge polar groups to effectively adsorb the lipophilic molecules via hydrogen bonding. After being transferred to aqueous media, the GOACHs were able to not only release the loaded lipophilic molecules but also to adsorb the released lipophilic molecules on the GO non-polar carbon lattice planes via hydrophobic interactions, thus resulting in deliberately balanced release of lipophilic molecules in aqueous media. Based on this environment-specific, regioselective adsorption of their GO guests, the GOACHs were harnessed as carriers for sustained delivery of ibuprofen across rat skin, underpinning their applicability in transdermal medication.

Gelatin/poly(vinyl alcohol) based hydrogel film - A potential biomaterial for wound dressing: Experimental design and optimization followed by rotatable central composite design

The development of hydrogel films for biomedical applications is interesting due to their characteristics. Hydrogel films based on gelatin and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) are developed and characterized using a rotatable central composite design. The optimized hydrogel film is obtained by the function desirability of the Statistica® software and is also characterized by swelling kinetics, oxygen permeability, adhesiveness, TGA, DSC, and XRD. The results of the experimental design show that gelatin and PVA concentrations have a significant influence on the response variables, and the exposure doses to UV light show no significant effect. The optimized hydrogel film is elastic, presents good mechanical resistance and swelling capacity in water and exudate solution, is permeable to oxygen, and is capable of adjusting itself and maintains contact close to the skin. In this way, considering all the properties evaluated, the optimized film has characteristics suitable for biomedical applications as wound dressings.

Polymer-Based Materials Loaded with Curcumin for Wound Healing Applications

Some of the currently used wound dressings have interesting features such as excellent porosity, good water-absorbing capacity, moderate water vapor transmission rate, high drug loading efficiency, and good capability to provide a moist environment, but they are limited in terms of antimicrobial properties. Their inability to protect the wound from microbial invasion results in wound exposure to microbial infections, resulting in a delayed wound healing process. Furthermore, some wound dressings are loaded with synthetic antibiotics that can cause adverse side effects on the patients. Natural-based compounds exhibit unique features such as good biocompatibility, reduced toxicity, etc. Curcumin, one such natural-based compound, has demonstrated several biological activities such as anticancer, antibacterial and antioxidant properties. Its good antibacterial and antioxidant activity make it beneficial for the treatment of wounds. Several researchers have developed different types of polymer-based wound dressings which were loaded with curcumin. These wound dressings displayed excellent features such as good biocompatibility, induction of skin regeneration, accelerated wound healing processes and excellent antioxidant and antibacterial activity. This review will be focused on the in vitro and in vivo therapeutic outcomes of wound dressings loaded with curcumin.

Hydrogel Dressings for the Treatment of Burn Wounds: An Up-To-Date Overview

Globally, the fourth most prevalent devastating form of trauma are burn injuries. Ideal burn wound dressings are fundamental to facilitate the wound healing process and decrease pain in lower time intervals. Conventional dry dressing treatments, such as those using absorbent gauze and/or absorbent cotton, possess limited therapeutic effects and require repeated dressing changes, which further aggravate patients' suffering. Contrariwise, hydrogels represent a promising alternative to improve healing by assuring a moisture balance at the burn site. Most studies consider hydrogels as ideal candidate materials for the synthesis of wound dressings because they exhibit a three-dimensional (3D) structure, which mimics the natural extracellular matrix (ECM) of skin in regard to the high-water amount, which assures a moist environment to the wound. There is a wide variety of polymers that have been used, either alone or blended, for the fabrication of hydrogels designed for biomedical applications focusing on treating burn injuries. The aim of this paper is to provide an up-to-date overview of hydrogels applied in burn wound dressings.