Innovative polysaccharide hydrogels offer new hope for healing wounds

Announcing a new article publication in BIO Integration. Skin wound healing, especially in chronic non-healing conditions, such as diabetic foot ulcers and infected wounds, remains a formidable clinical challenge due to the complex pathophysiologic mechanisms and prolonged repair processes.

Hydrogels have emerged as ideal wound dressing platforms because of the high water content, excellent moisture-retention capacity, superior biocompatibility, and structural similarity to the extracellular matrix. In recent years bioactive polysaccharides derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), including Bletilla striata polysaccharide (BSP), Astragalus polysaccharide (APS), and Dendrobium officinale polysaccharide (DOP), have attracted increasing attention for the construction of functional wound-healing hydrogels. This growing interest is driven by the intrinsic multifunctional bioactivities, such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, immunomodulatory, pro-angiogenic, and hemostatic effects, which position bioactive polysaccharides as promising “all-in-one” therapeutic biomaterials.

This review systematically summarizes recent advances in TCM polysaccharide-based functional hydrogels for skin wound healing applications. We highlight design and fabrication strategies, encompassing physical and chemical crosslinking approaches for constructing diverse network architectures, as well as functionalization strategies that incorporate bioactive components or leverage advanced manufacturing techniques to achieve tailored properties. Furthermore, we comprehensively discuss the therapeutic performance of these hydrogels in various in vitro and in vivo wound models with particular emphasis on the underlying mechanisms of action, such as modulation of macrophage polarization, scavenging of reactive oxygen species, enhancement of angiogenesis, acceleration of cell proliferation and migration, and regulation of extracellular matrix remodeling. Finally, existing challenges and future research perspectives are critically analyzed.

Overall, functional hydrogels based on bioactive TCM polysaccharides that integrate traditional medical wisdom with modern biomedical engineering represent a highly promising platform for the development of next-generation, effective, and intelligent wound repair materials.