Bioactive Wound Dressings for the Management of Chronic Wounds

This article offers a review regarding current approaches in bioactive dressings design, the bioactive components as well as the experimental models used to assess their efficiency. Wound dressings come in a variety of materials including natural polymers and synthetic polymers manufactured into various forms, such as foams, films, hydrocolloids, hydrogels, sponges, membranes, skin substitutes, electrospun micro and nanofibers. Until now there is no available dressing able to meet the criteria for a fast and adequate wound healing. The dressing material may have intrinsic wound healing activity or/and may serve as a support for the release of bioactive compounds such as antimicrobial agents (antibiotics, antiseptics, honey, plant extracts), growth factors, insulin. There are a lot of controversies regarding the use of antimicrobials in the wounds management. However non - antibiotic antibacterial treatment regiments are a must due to alarming antibiotic resistance. Most of the developed bioactive wound dressings were not tested on human patients, and may prove not applicable in clinical settings. Therefore, appropriately designed clinical studies are necessary to establish the safety profile and the efficacy of novel bioactive dressings, in terms of ease of use, cost-effectiveness and patient satisfaction, combined with in depth fundamental research of the mechanisms of action of different dressing's components.