Nanofibrous materials for wound care

Nanofibrous membranes are highly soft materials with high surface-to-volume ratios, and therefore can serve as excellent carriers for therapeutic agents that are antibacterial or accelerate wound healing. This article overviews research and development of nanofibrous dressing materials for wound care, in addition to a discussion of natural and synthetic polymers used in fabricating nanofibrous dressing materials, and a description of in vitro and in vivo evaluation methods for the performance and cytotoxicity of these materials. Natural polymers are usually believed to be less cytotoxic than synthetic polymer in wound care. However, most natural polymers exhibit relatively low mechanical strength than synthetic polymers. As a result, they are usually crosslinked or blended with synthetic polymers so as to somewhat affect their biocompatibility.