Hydrogel scaffolds in diabetic wound healing: A mini review

A sedentary lifestyle has paved a rapid upsurge in diabetes prevalence worldwide and is often allied with defective wound healing and impaired reparative responses. Hydrogel-based biomaterials are designed to mimic natural extracellular matrix to promote cell invasion, angiogenesis, re-epithelialization and inhibit persistent inflammation thereby accelerating the wound healing process. Hydrogels are hydrophilic polymer chains cross-linked to a three-dimensional solid using physical and chemical crosslinks ensuring the structural integrity of the hydrogels that can clench a large amount of water. These skin substitutes are fine-tuned to reiterate the aspects of the wound healing cascade to facilitate complete skin repair with restored function and tissue integrity. This study reviews and discusses the various aspects of hydrogels and their role in diabetic wound healing.