Nanoparticle-based approaches for wound healing: a comprehensive review of nanomaterials enhancing tissue regeneration

Wound healing is a complex biological process involving multiple stages that require interactions between several cells, growth factors, and cytokines. The lack of a suitable environment, along with microbial infection, impairs the normal wound-healing process. Burns, trauma, diabetic injuries, and chronic ulcers are the most prevalent types of wounds on the skin. Conventional wound treatments, with their focus on a single aspect, often fail to consider the complex conditions fully surrounding the pathogens that cause infections. Nanotechnology, a rapidly developing and cutting-edge field, facilitates tissue engineering and drug delivery and has proven effective in tackling several wound healing challenges by delivering anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and angiogenic benefits. This review explores the wound healing process, chronic wounds, and current wound care challenges, highlighting how nanotechnology, through the use of metallic nanoparticles (such as silver, gold, and zinc oxide), polymeric systems, lipid-based carriers, and carbon-based materials, offers significant advantages and has become a crucial part of modern wound treatment. It further explores the role of nanotechnology in skin wound repair, its advantages over conventional treatment techniques, its biocompatibility, and it also highlights clinical trials using nanotech-based approaches and outlines future directions in wound healing research.