A new article published in BIO Integration on Jul. 7 examines the use of bioactive polysaccharide hydrogels derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) as promising materials for skin wound healing, particularly in chronic non-healing conditions such as diabetic foot ulcers and infected wounds.
The review notes that hydrogels have become popular as wound dressing platforms due to their high water content, moisture-retention capacity, biocompatibility, and structural similarity to the extracellular matrix. Recently, bioactive polysaccharides including Bletilla striata polysaccharide (BSP), Astragalus polysaccharide (APS), and Dendrobium officinale polysaccharide (DOP) have attracted attention for constructing functional wound-healing hydrogels because of their anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, pro-angiogenic, and hemostatic properties.
The article systematically summarizes advances in TCM polysaccharide-based functional hydrogels for skin wound healing applications. It discusses design and fabrication strategies involving both physical and chemical crosslinking approaches to create diverse network architectures. The review also addresses methods for incorporating bioactive components or using advanced manufacturing techniques to tailor hydrogel properties.
Therapeutic performance is analyzed through various in vitro and in vivo models, with a focus on mechanisms such as modulation of macrophage polarization, scavenging reactive oxygen species, enhancing angiogenesis, accelerating cell proliferation and migration, and regulating extracellular matrix remodeling. The authors also examine existing challenges facing the field along with future research perspectives.
The review concludes that functional hydrogels based on bioactive TCM polysaccharides represent a promising platform combining traditional medical knowledge with modern biomedical engineering for developing next-generation wound repair materials.
