Preparation of SMART wound dressings based on colloidal microgels and textile fibres

Abstract

Wound dressings and other types of wound healing technologies are experiencing fast-paced development and rapid growth. As the population ages, demand will continue to rise for advanced dressings used to treat chronic wounds, such as pressure ulcers, venous stasis ulcers, and diabetic ulcers. Moist wound dressings, which facilitate natural wound healing in a cost-effective manner, will be increasingly important.In commercially available hydrogel / gauze wound dressings the gel swells to adsorb wound excreta and provide an efficient non adhesive particle barrier. An alternative to hydrogels are microgels. Essentially discrete colloidal gel particles, as a result of their very high surface area to volume ratio compared to bulk gels, they have a much faster response to external stimuli such as temperature or pH. In response to either an increase or decrease in solvent quality these porous networks shrink and swell reversibly. When swollen the interstitial regions within the polymer matrix are available for further chemistry; such as the incorporation of small molecules. The reversible shrinking and swelling as a function of external stimuli provides a novel drug release system. As the environmental conditions of a wound change over its lifetime, tending to increase in pH if there is an infection combining these discrete polymeric particles with a substrate such as cotton, results in a smart wound dressing.

A review of stimuli-responsive polymers for smart textile applications

“…Thermal/pH-responsive polymeric hydrogels Fabrication of thermal/pH-responsive polymeric hydrogels [126,127] Grafting of thermal/pH-responsive polymeric hydrogel onto fabrics [131,132,151] Skin-care products [175] Wound dressing [176] Physiological parameter monitoring [177] Heat or moisture management [178][179][180] Deodorant fabrics [181] Reversible superhydrophilic/superhydrophobic fabrics [182] hydrogels, cross-linking agents in solution with free radical polymerization is usually preferred [174]. The research directions for thermal/pH-responsive polymeric hydrogels in textile applications are tabulated in table 3 with the main references attached.…”

“…In addition to chitin/chitosan, many hydrogel products for wound dressing have been developed from biopolymers [189][190][191][192][193][194][195][196][197]. Wound dressings with stimuli-responsive hydrogels can provide a novel drug release system in response to variations in pH/temperature, causing the wounds to heal at a faster rate [176].…”

Chitosan Applications Used in Medical Therapy of Tissue Regeneration

“…The glycerophosphate salts are represented by polyols bearing single anionic groups. [33] Due to its great biological and chemical properties such as biodegradability, biocompatibility, and especially the antibacterial and antimicrobial activity, chitosan and its derivatives have been widely investigated as wound-dressing materials and as scaffolds for skin tissue engineering. In order to treat severe burn wounds antibiotic-loaded chitosanbased scaffolds have been used.…”

Evaluation of Melia azedarach extract-loaded poly (vinyl alcohol)/pectin hydrogel for burn wound healing

“…To stimulate wound healing, passive dressing is essential to maintain optimal moisture conditions. Several products, such as gauze, hydrogel, foam, hydrocolloids (carboxymethyl-cellulose), alginate, collagen, cellulose, cotton/rayon, and transparent films (polyurethane), are recommended as passive dressings for wounds and burns because of their influence on the local cellular response [ 1 ]. The hydrogel dressing is composed of a water-insoluble cross-linked polymer with high affinity for aqueous media and is a three-dimensional viscoelastic network, which may be composed of a homopolymer or a copolymer.…”