A review on application of herbals and their polymer composites in wound healing

Abstract

Biomedical applications of herbals and their derivatives for skin tissue engineering have become increasingly popular in recent years. Herbals and their derivatives can be used to create scaffolds for skin tissue engineering and wound healing, as they provide a biocompatible and biodegradable structure that can be used to promote skin tissue regeneration. In the literature search for relevant papers, sixty-eight studies have been included from January 2000 to September 2023 from PubMed and Google Scholar database sources. This review provided an overview of current knowledge on biomedical applications of herbal medicine such as Aloe Vera, Calendula Officinalis, Hypericum perforatum, Lawsonia inermis, Nicotine, Propolis, Honey, Perovskia abrotanoides Karel, Oak fruit inner, Lithospermum officinale, and their derivatives in skin tissue engineering. We showed that tissue engineering is a prominent therapeutic strategy that can be cost-effective in treatment of skin wounds by applying different natural herbal products, nanotechnology, material science, and regenerative medicine to suit the current wound care demands such as tissue repair, restoration of lost tissue integrity and scarless healing. So the design, synthesis, modification, evaluation, and characterization of herbal products are needed to target skin tissue engineering and wound healing. New strategies based on the drug delivery systems and nanocarriers such as nanofibers, nanoparticles, and vesicular structures, based on materials such as gelatin, PCL, collagen, chitosan, PLGA, PEG, PEO, PVA, natural gums, and PU can also be developed to facilitate the wound healing process. The homeostasis, re-epithelialization, regeneration, and immunocytes can be investigated by inducing fibroblasts proliferation and/or collagen production. Nevertheless, further clinical studies are needed before introducing commercial products in the market.