Trends in alginate-based films and membranes for wound healing

Wound healing management is one of the most expensive and most common procedures in modern hospitals worldwide. The modern trend in wound healing is using bioactive compounds, either by themselves or in a blended form that enhances their advantages in order to ensure a fast and possibly scar-free healing. One of these biomaterials is alginate, a heteroglycan with anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-oxidant and hemostasis-induction properties, being capable to entrap drugs, proteins or growth factors that help wound healing. After a rigorous search of the findings made after 2013, we included the in vitro and in vivo studies that used alginate films and membranes, as well as the physicochemical differences between them, providing new perspectives on using different compositions when creating a material that could enhance the wound healing process.