wound treatment

Chronic wounds represent a major burden on the quality of life of those affected. To improve their situation, multilayer films of chitosan, alginate and the fibroblast growth factor FGF2 were prepared in the presented study and their potential as wound dressings was investigated.

Deeper skin injuries require appropriate wound dressings to promote healing. In the presented study, CMC-containing hyaluronic acid-dopamine hydrogels were synthesized, characterized and investigated in vivo for their wound healing properties.

Chitin and Chitosan offer beneficial properties for wound dressing materials, like biocompatibility, biodegradability and haemostatic effects. The biopolymer source influences the properties, processing and associated impurities of the chitin. In this article, we want to present a review, which investigated the differences between crustaceans and fungi derived chitin and chitosan regarding wound healing.

Stem cell therapy has received a lot of attention in recent years and has created new ways of treating the various conditions and ailments. The stem cells can differentiate into a wide variety of cell types and can positively influence inflammatory reactions. Clinical applications of stem cells are still limited, among others due to the high concentrations of ROS (reactive oxygen species) in the environment of the inflammation which limits retention of the transplanted stem cells.

The healing process of a wound injury follows the steps of hemostasis, inflammation, cell proliferation, and regeneration until complete healing of the damaged tissue. In chronic wounds, the progress of these steps is disturbed, leaving the wounds inflamed for a long time. In an aging society with bad health habits (poor diet, little exercise), the number of chronic wounds is going to increase. Therefore, the research on materials that improve wound healing is important. The publications presented below are devoted to research about chitosan-based materials for the treatment of chronic wounds.

Optimal wound healing requires restoration of the damaged tissue by formation of new tissue and epithelialization. To support this process after injury, suitable wound dressings are required to prevent development of a chronic wound. In this article, we present two recently published in vivo studies dealing with the use of chitosan-silica hybrids for wound healing.

Chitosan is not only used for feverish laboratory-scale research, but also for specific application in chitosan-based products for a wide variety of indications, which are being tested in clinical studies. In this article we provide an insight into current clinical studies on chitosan and present the results of two studies on chronic wound healing and improved hemostasis after puncture of the radial artery.

In April 2017, 252 articles about chitosan and chitosan derivatives were published. The International Journal of Biological Macromolecules published the highest number of chitosan-related articles (23), followed by Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces (7) and Carbohydrate Polymers (6). Researchers from China (48 articles) are as usually on the top of the list of leading countries in chitosan research. Germany can also be found among the top 10, with 5 publications in April 2017.

This month we deal with chitosan for skin tissue engineering. In 2016, 129 articles about “chitosan” and “tissue engineering” were published. Most publications were written by researchers from China (42 articles), India (14) and the United States (14).

Overall 66 articles about chitosan and its derivatives were published in February 2012. With overall 15 articles, this month again China is the country with most publications.

In July several outstanding articles about chitosan had been published around the world.  All in all 122 articles were released in 67 different journals. With regard to the number of publications the leading countries are China (31), the USA (20) and South Korea (10).

American start-up for chitosan wound care solutions PhD students in Maryland (University of Maryland and Robert H. Smith School of Business) found their own start-up to develop blood-clotting products. Already two products are in a development phase. A surgical spray and a sponge, both based on chitosan.

In February chitosan research remains very active. After 83 articles in January 73 papers were published in the second month of the year 2009.