Smart bioadhesives for wound healing and closure

The high demand for rapid wound healing has spurred the development of multifunctional and smart bioadhesives with strong bioadhesion, antibacterial effect, real-time sensing, wireless communication, and on-demand treatment capabilities. Bioadhesives with bio-inspired structures and chemicals have shown unprecedented adhesion strengths, as well as tunable optical, electrical, and bio-dissolvable properties. Accelerated wound healing has been achieved via directly released antibacterial and growth factors, material or drug-induced host immune responses, and delivery of curative cells. Most recently, the integration of biosensing and treatment modules with wireless units in a closed-loop system yielded smart bioadhesives, allowing real-time sensing of the physiological conditions (e.g., pH, temperature, uric acid, glucose, and cytokine) with iterative feedback for drastically enhanced, stage-specific wound healing by triggering drug delivery and treatment to avoid infection or prolonged inflammation. Despite rapid advances in the burgeoning field, challenges still exist in the design and fabrication of integrated systems, particularly for chronic wounds, presenting significant opportunities for the future development of next-generation smart materials and systems.