NANOPARTICLES FOR SKIN WOUND HEALING

Over the past two decades, there has been a surge in the development of nanoparticle technologies for therapeutic applications. In the area of skin wound healing, silver nanoparticles have been long used as topical antibacterials, but new types of multifunctional nanosystems that can provide more comprehensive therapeutic effects on wounds are being rolled out. The ability to provide a reservoir of bioactive molecules that can be released over time is a feature of many of these systems, which is critically important for nonhealing wounds, where there often is a persistent bacterial load and a chronic lack of growth factors necessary for healing. A great advantage of nanosystems is that by virtue of their extremely small size, they can be easily incorporated into a wide variety of topical treatments that are currently available for use in the clinic. For example, nanoparticles can be easily introduced into decellularized skin products as well as other bioengineered skin substitutes. The design options available for the nanocarriers are very diverse, including encapsulating the drug in the particle's core or presenting it on the outside of the particle, which can also be decorated with a targeting agent, and the ability to change conformation in response to environmental cues (e.g., pH). These various design elements have been optimized differently to treat different types of wounds.