A Review of Some Significant Advances in Nano Fibers for Wound Dressings

Abstract

The article comprehensively reviews the recent trends in use of nano fibers for wound dressings. Globally, chronic wounds impose a notable burden to patients and healthcare systems. Such skin wounds are readily subjected to bacteria that provoke inflammation and hence challenge the healing process. Furthermore, bacteria induce infection impeding re-epithelialization and collagen synthesis. With an estimated global market of $20.4 billion by 2021, appropriate wound dressing materials e.g. those composed of biopolymers originating from nature, are capable of alleviating the infection incidence and of accelerating the healing process. Particularly, biopolymeric nanofibrous dressings are biocompatible and mostly biodegradable and biomimic the extracellular matrix structure. Such nanofibrous dressings provide a high surface area and the ability to deliver antibiotics and antibacterial agents locally into the wound milieu to control infection. Skin and soft tissue infections are major concerns with respect to wound repair. Recently, anti-bacterial wound dressings have been emerging as promising candidates to reduce infection, thus accelerating the wound healing process. This paper presents our work to develop and characterize poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) chitosan (CS) silk sericin (SS) tetracycline (TCN) porous nanofibers, with diameters varying from 305 to 425 nm, both in vitro and in vivo for potential applications as wound dressings.