Hydrogels incorporating active compounds from traditional Chinese medicine for diabetic wound healing: mechanistic pathways and bioengineering progress.
{"title":"Hydrogels incorporating active compounds from traditional Chinese medicine for diabetic wound healing: mechanistic pathways and bioengineering progress.","authors":"Rui Zhang, Suk Fei Tan, Ye Wang, Junxue Wu, Chao Zhang","doi":"10.3389/fcell.2025.1666646","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Diabetic wounds, especially foot ulcers, pose significant clinical challenges due to persistent inflammation, oxidative stress, impaired angiogenesis, and a high risk of infection. Advanced therapeutic strategies are needed to actively modulate the wound microenvironment. Hydrogels incorporating bioactive compounds derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), such as curcumin, baicalein, glycyrrhetinic acid, Astragalus polysaccharides, and Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides, offer a promising integrative approach. These hydrogels combine the biological activities of TCM compounds with the advantages of a moist, biocompatible wound dressing. This review highlights recent advancement (2020-2025) in TCM-based hydrogels for diabetic wound healing focusing on the design of these materials (e.g., curcumin, baicalein, glycyrrhetinic acid, Astragalus and Ganoderma polysaccharides) and the development of stimuli-responsive delivery systems (e.g., pH, enzymes, temperature, glucose and possibly magnetic/electric fields). TCM-derived compounds can not only form or reinforce hydrogel networks but also impart therapeutic functions by modulating key cellular pathways involved in anti-inflammatory (NF-κB) and antioxidant responses (Nrf2/HO-1), angiogenesis (VEGF, PI3K/Akt), and tissue regeneration (TGF-β/Smad). Challenges in translating TCM-based hydrogles into clinical use, such as pharmacokinetic variability and stability of the active compounds, are also discussed. Furthermore, representative studies are critically compared to elucidate how different TCM-hydrogel systems enchance wound healing outcomes by improving tissue regeneration, accelerating wound closure, and combating infection through responsive release and localized delivery mechanism. TCM-based hydrogels offer a novel, multi-functional platforms to diabetic wounds. They represent a novel paradigm in chronic wound management. Continued interdisciplinary research and clinical translation of these integrative biomaterials could significantly advance precision regenerative therapy for diabetic patients.</p>","PeriodicalId":12448,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology","volume":"13 ","pages":"1666646"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-09-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12454359/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2025.1666646","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CELL BIOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Diabetic wounds, especially foot ulcers, pose significant clinical challenges due to persistent inflammation, oxidative stress, impaired angiogenesis, and a high risk of infection. Advanced therapeutic strategies are needed to actively modulate the wound microenvironment. Hydrogels incorporating bioactive compounds derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), such as curcumin, baicalein, glycyrrhetinic acid, Astragalus polysaccharides, and Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides, offer a promising integrative approach. These hydrogels combine the biological activities of TCM compounds with the advantages of a moist, biocompatible wound dressing. This review highlights recent advancement (2020-2025) in TCM-based hydrogels for diabetic wound healing focusing on the design of these materials (e.g., curcumin, baicalein, glycyrrhetinic acid, Astragalus and Ganoderma polysaccharides) and the development of stimuli-responsive delivery systems (e.g., pH, enzymes, temperature, glucose and possibly magnetic/electric fields). TCM-derived compounds can not only form or reinforce hydrogel networks but also impart therapeutic functions by modulating key cellular pathways involved in anti-inflammatory (NF-κB) and antioxidant responses (Nrf2/HO-1), angiogenesis (VEGF, PI3K/Akt), and tissue regeneration (TGF-β/Smad). Challenges in translating TCM-based hydrogles into clinical use, such as pharmacokinetic variability and stability of the active compounds, are also discussed. Furthermore, representative studies are critically compared to elucidate how different TCM-hydrogel systems enchance wound healing outcomes by improving tissue regeneration, accelerating wound closure, and combating infection through responsive release and localized delivery mechanism. TCM-based hydrogels offer a novel, multi-functional platforms to diabetic wounds. They represent a novel paradigm in chronic wound management. Continued interdisciplinary research and clinical translation of these integrative biomaterials could significantly advance precision regenerative therapy for diabetic patients.
期刊介绍:
Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology is a broad-scope, interdisciplinary open-access journal, focusing on the fundamental processes of life, led by Prof Amanda Fisher and supported by a geographically diverse, high-quality editorial board.
The journal welcomes submissions on a wide spectrum of cell and developmental biology, covering intracellular and extracellular dynamics, with sections focusing on signaling, adhesion, migration, cell death and survival and membrane trafficking. Additionally, the journal offers sections dedicated to the cutting edge of fundamental and translational research in molecular medicine and stem cell biology.
With a collaborative, rigorous and transparent peer-review, the journal produces the highest scientific quality in both fundamental and applied research, and advanced article level metrics measure the real-time impact and influence of each publication.