Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2024 Dec;31(1):2300945.
doi: 10.1080/10717544.2023.2300945. Epub 2024 Feb 16.

Advancing burn wound treatment: exploring hydrogel as a transdermal drug delivery system

MeeiChyn Goh  1 , Meng Du  1 , Wang Rui Peng  1   2 , Phei Er Saw  3   4 , Zhiyi Chen  1   2   5
Affiliations
Review

Advancing burn wound treatment: exploring hydrogel as a transdermal drug delivery system

MeeiChyn Goh et al. Drug Deliv. 2024 Dec.

Abstract

Burn injuries are prevalent and life-threatening forms that contribute significantly to mortality rates due to associated wound infections. The management of burn wounds presents substantial challenges. Hydrogel exhibits tremendous potential as an ideal alternative to traditional wound dressings such as gauze. This is primarily attributed to its three-dimensional (3D) crosslinked polymer network, which possesses a high water content, fostering a moist environment that supports effective burn wound healing. Additionally, hydrogel facilitates the penetration of loaded therapeutic agents throughout the wound surface, combating burn wound pathogens through the hydration effect and thereby enhancing the healing process. However, the presence of eschar formation on burn wounds obstructs the passive diffusion of therapeutics, impairing the efficacy of hydrogel as a wound dressing, particularly in cases of severe burns involving deeper tissue damage. This review focuses on exploring the potential of hydrogel as a carrier for transdermal drug delivery in burn wound treatment. Furthermore, strategies aimed at enhancing the transdermal delivery of therapeutic agents from hydrogel to optimize burn wound healing are also discussed.

Keywords: Hydrogel; burn wound; therapeutic carrier; tissue regeneration; transdermal drug delivery.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Figures

None
Graphical abstract
Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Characteristics of an ideal burn wound dressing.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Properties of hydrogel as a potential wound dressing for burn wound healing. Reprinted from an open-access source (Negut et al., 2018).
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Therapeutic agents-incorporated hydrogels that improve their versatility as a burn wound dressing.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Alkilani AZ, McCrudden MTC, Donnelly RF. (2015). Transdermal drug ­delivery: Innovative pharmaceutical developments based on disruption of the barrier properties of the stratum corneum. Pharmaceutics 7:1–15. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics7040438. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alkilani AZ, Nasereddin J, Hamed R, et al. (2022). Beneath the skin: A review of current trends and future prospects of transdermal drug delivery systems. Pharmaceutics 14:1152. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics14061152. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Almasaudi S. (2021). The antibacterial activities of honey. Saudi J Biol Sci 28:2188–96. Available at doi: 10.1016/j.sjbs.2020.10.017. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alyoussef A, El-Gogary RI, Ahmed RF, et al. (2021). The beneficial activity of curcumin and resveratrol loaded in nanoemulgel for healing of burn-induced wounds. J Drug Deliv Sci Technol 62:102360. Available at doi: 10.1016/j.jddst.2021.102360. - DOI
    1. Arbuthnot MK, Garcia AV. (2019). Early resuscitation and management of severe pediatric burns. Semin Pediatr Surg 28:73–8. doi: 10.1053/j.sempedsurg.2019.01.013. - DOI - PubMed