Xyloglucan-based hydrogel films for the design of "smart" bandages

A chronic wound is a wound that does not heal in an orderly set of stages and in a predictable amount of time the way most wounds do. Chronic wounds mostly affect people over the age of 60, but a significant proportion is becoming radiation induced chronic wounds caused by cancer radiotherapy. Hydrogels are often used as dressings in the management of a variety of wounds. These materials can help to maintain a moist wound environment, promote natural debridement, hydrate necrotic tissue, absorb slough and exudates.We are developing hydrogel dressings that can enable constant monitoring of selected key parameters through embedded radio-sensors, providing information on the progress of the reparative process, while maintaining the wound hydrated and oxygenated.Xyloglucan (XG) has been chosen asmain component of the hydrogel wound dressings. Chemical crosslinking has been induced to improve the mechanical properties of the films and prevent erosion. The effect of glycerol, used as plasticizer, on the structural and mechanical properties of the hydrogels has been investigated.Selected films resulted easy to handle, flexible and conformable, able to absorb high amounts of simulated biological fluids. Film biocompatibility and hemocompatibility was demonstrated by biological tests in which no injurious response was activated. Furthermore, we found that epithelial cells can partially adhere to the film whose ability to inhibit microorganisms growth and invasion was also demonstrated. The best candidate is now being integrated with a RFID radio-sensor to monitor the amount of exudates.