Natural Product-Based Biomaterials for Advanced Wound Dressings

Dear Colleagues,

The skin is the organ responsible for protecting the body from the outside and therefore performs a barrier function, which is lost if the skin is not intact. Wounds are defects or breaks in the skin due to various causes, such as physical, chemical, and thermal damage, and are divided into acute and chronic if they do not heal within 12 weeks. Nowadays, wounds not only resulting from pathologies, such as diabetes and obesity, but also those due to the aging of the population are increasing. Although there are new materials available nowadays compared to the past, an ideal dressing does not yet exist. Dressings are traditionally used to protect the wound, but they can also be used as a source of release of antimicrobial agents, bioactive molecules with anti-inflammatory, pain-relieving, and healing action, and smell-controlling agents. Having a local release of these active agents allows to avoid systemic administration with the risk of not reaching the minimum effective concentration on site and exposing the body to high doses of drugs. Also worth highlighting is the possibility of using alternative agents to antibiotics in view of the increase in bacterial resistance.

Natural products (NPs) are still a valuable source of bioactive molecules. Several studies have shown how NPs can promote wound healing, due to their anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activities. For these reasons, medicinal plants can be promising therapeutics for improving wound healing in different ways: as a source of bioactive compounds or drug-releasing biomaterials.

Therefore, this Special Issue aims at innovative studies on natural agent-based advanced wound dressings able to promote healing, preventing and reducing infections, and enhancing patient compliance, with attention to innovative drug delivery systems.

Prof. Dr. Valeria Ambrogi
Prof. Maria Carla Marcotullio
Guest Editors

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• biomaterials
• chronic wounds
• wound healing
• anti-inflammatory agents
• antibiofilm activity
• antimicrobial activity
• anti-inflammatory activity
• smell-controlling agents
• natural products
• tissue regeneration
• topic drug delivery