THE BATTLE AGAINST THE WOUND!!!
This is the season, or should I say that time in four years. No this isn't a reference to Christmas, but rather to the recently concluded FIFA world cup, the event that more or less occupied our minds. Now think about it, your favourite team made it to the round of 16, and they're about to play one of their most important matches, when the player you've been supporting for years gets injured. Can you imagine the emotions that you and maybe million others like you will go through? Having experienced wound healing first-hand, we all know it is slow and entails a number of steps before a full recovery is evident in terms of both healing and scarring reduction.
Now what if I tell you there might be a way to speed up the process of wound healing and skin regeneration and researchers have already been working on it since decades. In fact, there are lot of options that might serve as a potential candidate for treating wounds in near future. Use of nanomedicines in the treatment of diseases is not new to anyone. Is it? Nanotechnology is being widely employed for not just therapy but also for early diagnosis, in imaging cases of infection and also in cosmetics.
Nanomedicines for wound healing, involve the use of nanoparticles or nanotechnology based biomaterials like hydrogels, microneedles and nanofibers to deliver therapeutic drug directly at the site of the wound. These nanoparticles can be made from a variety of materials, such as liposomes or polymers, and can be designed to target specific cells or tissue in the wound. The use of nanomedicines in wound healing can improve effectiveness of treatment by increasing the concentration of therapeutic agent, reducing side effects and facilitating targeted delivery for healing and regeneration. Similarly, hydrogels can be used to create scaffolds that can be used for tissue regeneration. Recently, the use of microneedles for delivering drug topically with higher efficacy is also being explored. Another technology that is gaining attention is the use of stem cells for skin regeneration. These cells can be used to create new skin tissues, which can be used to repair damaged or destroyed skin.
Your wounds speak to you, it tells you whether its healing or if its losing its fight against infection. Characteristic features such as temperature, pH and other chemical signals are the indicative factors of it. Let us take a look at the most efficient nanoparticles that scientists have been working on in the past few decades. Just like the National teams of different Countries, we have our own list of nanoparticles based on years of data accumulated with positive results fighting for the cup that here is the most effective treatment carrier.
How do you test the potential of the team? You would say, based on the strength and activity of strikers (then consider them to be the nanocarriers here, that can effectively target the therapeutic agent at the targeted site), midfielders (that can encapsulate and deliver the drug effectively) and defenders (that can defend against any microbial infection that can occur in the course of wound healing). In light of this, I divided potential candidates into groups depending on their chances of standing and fighting for skin regeneration as well as speedy wound healing. So, let’s go back in time and re-live it with the emotions, the expectations and the predictions we had from these National teams. Shall I say: LET THE GAMES BEGIN AGAIN!
REFERENCES
[1] Barroso, A., Mestre, H., Ascenso, A., Simões, S., & Reis, C. (2020b). Nanomaterials in wound healing: From material sciences to wound healing applications. Nano Select, 1(5), 443–460. https://doi.org/10.1002/NANO.202000055
[2] Kushwaha, A., Goswami, L., & Kim, B. S. (2022). Nanomaterial-Based Therapy for Wound Healing. Nanomaterials, 12(4). https://doi.org/10.3390/NANO12040618
[3] Rajendran, N. K., Kumar, S. S. D., Houreld, N. N., & Abrahamse, H. (2018). A review on nanoparticle based treatment for wound healing. Journal of Drug Delivery Science and Technology, 44, 421–430. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JDDST.2018.01.009
[4] Shalaby, M. A., Anwar, M. M., & Saeed, H. (2022). Nanomaterials for application in wound Healing: current state-of-the-art and future perspectives. Journal of Polymer Research 2022 29:3, 29(3), 1–37. https://doi.org/10.1007/S10965-021-02870-X
[5] Wang, W., Lu, K. J., Yu, C. H., Huang, Q. L., & Du, Y. Z. (2019). Nano-drug delivery systems in wound treatment and skin regeneration. Journal of Nanobiotechnology 2019 17:1, 17(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1186/S12951-019-0514-Y
* Thumbnail source is from Istockphoto
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