Polysaccharide-based antimicrobial hydrogels as wound dressing materials

Abstract

Wound management is a major healthcare concern worldwide, with the potential high risk of developing serious infections and consequently life-threatening complications. Conventional dressing materials commercially available nowadays for wound management offer limited protection and therapeutic value to the treatments. They also fail to protect against infection or maintain a prolonged moist microenvironment for healing to occur, playing no role in the healing process. Hydrogels have gained widespread popularity as potent wound dressings owing to their unique properties, such as the ability to absorb excessive water/exudate, maintain a moist environment, facilitate gas exchange, easily adapt to wound site, and encapsulate bioactive molecules for accelerated wound healing as well as the prevention and treatment of microbial infection. Polysaccharides can be used to create hydrogels that are safe, inexpensive, biodegradable, biocompatible, nontoxic, nonimmunogenic, hemocompatible, histocompatible, and cytocompatible wound dressing materials with exceptional mechanical strength and viscoelastic properties. This chapter addresses the concept of polysaccharides in the development of safe and effective antimicrobial hydrogel dressings for the treatment of infected wounds. © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.