Healing Wounds: Interactive dressing speeds the process
A new, easily prepared hydrogel material promotes more rapid wound healing
New, easily prepared materials promote more rapid healing of wounds in laboratory animals than conventional dressings do, researchers report. The new films ultimately could quicken the recovery of burn victims and patients with skin ulcers and bedsores, the team asserts.
The films are in a class of materials known as hydrogels, which are networks of polymers that swell in water. These new hydrogels are made from complex sugars called glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) that are normally found in the protein-containing gel, or extracellular matrix, that surrounds animal cells.