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Review
. 2023 Feb 20;8(9):8172-8189.
doi: 10.1021/acsomega.2c06806. eCollection 2023 Mar 7.

Design Considerations, Formulation Approaches, and Strategic Advances of Hydrogel Dressings for Chronic Wound Management

Dhruvi Solanki  1 , Preksha Vinchhi  1 , Mayur M Patel  1
Affiliations
Review

Design Considerations, Formulation Approaches, and Strategic Advances of Hydrogel Dressings for Chronic Wound Management

Dhruvi Solanki et al. ACS Omega. .

Abstract

Wound healing is a complex and dynamic physiological process consisting of a series of cellular and molecular events that initiate immediately after a tissue lesion, to reconstruct the skin layer. It is indubitable that patients with chronic wounds, severely infected wounds, or any metabolic disorder of the wound microenvironment always endure severe pain and discomfort that affect their quality of life. It is essential to treat chronic wounds for conserving the physical as well as mental well-being of affected patients and for convalescing to improve their quality of life. For supporting and augmenting the healing process, the selection of pertinent wound dressing is essential. A substantial reduction in healing duration, disability, associated cost, and risk of recurrent infections can be achieved via engineering wound dressings. Hydrogels play a leading role in the path of engineering ideal wound dressings. Hydrogels, comprising water to a large extent, providing a moist environment, being comfortable to patients, and having biocompatible and biodegradable properties, have found their success as suitable wound dressings in the market. The exploitation of hydrogels is increasing perpetually after substantiation of their broader therapeutic actions owing to their resemblance to dermal tissues, their capability to stimulate partial skin regeneration, and their ability to incorporate therapeutic moieties promoting wound healing. This review entails properties of hydrogel supporting wound healing, types of hydrogels, cross-linking mechanisms, design considerations, and formulation strategies of hydrogel engineering. Various categories of hydrogel wound dressing fabricated recently are discussed based on their gel network composition, degradability, and physical and chemical cross-linking mechanisms, which provide an outlook regarding the importance of tailoring the physicochemical properties of hydrogels. The examples of marketed hydrogel wound dressings are also incorporated along with the future perspectives and challenges associated with them.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of the distinct phase of normal wound healing process: (a) hemostasis, (b) inflammation, (c) proliferation, and (d) remodelling.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic elucidation of acute vs chronic wounds. In acute wounds, optimum angiogenesis promotes fibroblasts proliferation, neutrophils anti-infective activities, and re-epithelialization. With chronic wounds, prolonged local bacterial infections hinder angiogenesis, fibroblasts proliferation, and anti-infective activity of neutrophils.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Biological and structural features of hydrogels to enhance wound healing.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Classification of various types of hydrogels based on degradability, method of preparation, and types of cross-linking.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Chemical structures of various biodegradable polymers such as chitosan, cellulose, starch, alginate, hyaluronic acid, gellan gum, collagen, elastin, keratin, fibrin, and albumin.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Schematic representation of various physical and chemical cross-linking mechanisms for formation of hydrogel.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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