Multifunctional Polysaccharide Fibers for Wound Healing

Wound healing techniques have rapidly evolved over the last sixty years. It all started with the better understanding of skin and wound healing process. Any type of injury can cause pain, scars and results in stress but skin protects body from external environment. Wounded skin is healed through a lot of phases i.e. inflammation, migration, proliferation and maturation phase. Moist wound healing along with antimicrobial properties and controlled targeted drug delivery are main focus in the current wound care market. A plethora of highly absorbent fibers with multifunctional properties is centre of focus in current wound care market. Different types of polysaccharide fibers has been developed which claims to have high absorbence properties to manage exudates and provides antibacterial properties to encourage wound healing. However there is still a need for more research to develop fibers with high mechanical propertiesn so that they can be converted into wound dressing and scaffolds without loosing their integrity. These fibers must provide high drug loading capacity with controlled and targeted drug delivery to further enhance wound healing. This article presents a review of skin structure, wound healing processes and requirements, different type of materials, their structures and fibers develop from those materials for medical applications especially wound healing.