Engineering an integrated electroactive dressing to accelerate wound healing and monitor noninvasively progress of healing
Journal
Nano Energy
Journal Volume
99
Date Issued
2022-08-01
Author(s)
Nguyen, Nhien
Barman, Snigdha Roy
Korupalli, Chiranjeevi
Cheng, Ji Yen
Song, Ni Xuan
Chang, Yen
Mi, Fwu Long
Sung, Hsing Wen
Lin, Yu Jung
Abstract
Traditional wound dressings neither promote the cellular activities that heal wounds nor support the monitoring of the progress of that healing. This work develops an engineered electroactive dressing that comprises a layer of polydopamine-crosslinked carboxymethyl chitosan conductive hydrogel and an interdigitated array (IDA) electrode. The dressing is evaluated in a mouse model with a full-thickness skin defect. The conductive hydrogel provides a channel that transmits endogenous bioelectrical signals to the wound; these stimulate electrical stimuli-responsive cells, and thereby accelerate the restoration of the wounded tissue. The IDA electrode detects the electrical resistance or output current across the wounded tissue for the noninvasive real-time monitoring of the overall healing process. This wound monitoring system is integrated with a WIFI-based system for wireless data collection and transmission using a personal smartphone. Such a real-time wound monitoring system can be worn by patients, to whom it issues early warnings of potential infections and it wirelessly sends data on the progression of healing to remote medical staff for dynamic intervention as required.
Subjects
Electroactive dressing | Telemedicine | Triboelectric nanogenerator | Wound healing | Wound monitoring
Type
journal article