Topical delivery of growth factors and metal/metal oxide nanoparticles to infected wounds by polymeric nanoparticles: an overview.

INTRODUCTION: Infected chronic wounds particularly diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) can result from stable colonization of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and fungi at the wound sites. In this context, the rapid healing of infected wounds has been the main goal in recent investigations. This issue can be solved by improving wound-healing phases including hemostasis, inflammatory, proliferative, and remodeling/maturation, and removal of bacteria and fungi. The applications of growth factors (GFs) and metal/metal oxide nanoparticles (MNPs/MONPs) are two choices for these targets. However, the lack of sustainable release of these agents is an important problem for appropriate wound healing.

AREA COVERED: The present review is focused on recent advances in delivery systems composed of growth factor and MNPs/MONPs for rapid wound healing.

EXPERT OPINION: Synthetic and natural polymeric micro- and nanocarriers including polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and chitosan play a vital role in the healing of infected chronic wounds. Using various derivatives of chitosan as pH-responsive polymer with basic and acidic groups can be the best option to prepare controllable and sequential GF release. However, it warrants further extensive research to solve wound-healing problems.