Abstract
Currently, due to uprising concerns about wound infections, healing agents have been regarded as one of the major solutions in the treatment of different skin lesions. The usage of temporary barriers can be an effective way to protect wounds or ulcers from dangerous agents and, using these carriers can not only improve the healing process but also they can minimize the scarring and the pain suffered by the human. To cope with this demand, researchers struggled to develop wound dressing agents that could mimic the structural and properties of native skin with the capability to inhibit bacterial growth. Hence, asymmetric membranes that can impair bacterial penetration and avoid exudate accumulation as well as wound dehydration have been introduced. In general, synthetic implants and tissue grafts are expensive, hard to handle (due to their fragile nature and poor mechanical properties) and their production process is very time consuming, while the asymmetric membranes are affordable and their production process is easier than previous epidermal substitutes. Motivated by this, here we will cover different topics, first, the comprehensive research developments of asymmetric membranes are reviewed and second, general properties and different preparation methods of asymmetric membranes are summarized. In the two last parts, the role of chitosan based-asymmetric membranes and electrospun asymmetric membranes in hastening the healing process are mentioned respectively. The aforementioned membranes are inexpensive and possess high antibacterial and satisfactory mechanical properties. It is concluded that, despite the promising current investigations, much effort is still required to be done in asymmetric membranes.
Highlights
The largest organ of the body is skin and its functions and structures can be affected by chronic wounds or traumatic events [1,2,3]
Asymmetric membranes with extraordinary properties and high similarity with the native skin have gained tremendous attention and they have played a vital role in wound healing applications
Asymmetric membranes with extraordinary properties and high similarity with the native skin have gained considerable attention and they have played a vital role in wound healing applications
Summary
The largest organ of the body is skin and its functions and structures can be affected by chronic wounds or traumatic events [1,2,3]. Several items like clinical efficiency, low-cost, availability, patient safety, and ability to regenerate the native properties of skin were the most essential issues in the progress of new wound dressings [8,12]. Hinrichs and coworkers were the first groups that proposed polyurethane-based asymmetric membranes to mimic the structural organization and properties of epidermis and dermis layers in the wound care process [18]. Asymmetric membranes with extraordinary properties and high similarity with the native skin have gained tremendous attention and they have played a vital role in wound healing applications. A group of researchers fabricated a novel asymmetric membrane based on small intestinal submucosa They stated that these novel membranes possess a bilayer structure with loose and dense layers, which can provide better mechanical stability and even wettability. We suggest areas of future research that will help bring asymmetric membranes towards wound dressing applications
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