TABLE 1.

The fabrication and application of hydrogels for wound healing.

Type of application	Cargo	Polymer scaffold	Crosslinking	Stimuli effect	Fabrication	Property	Outcome	References
Effects of hydrogel scaffold		QCS and Pluronic® F127	Schiff base bond	pH	Bulk hydrogel	Self-healing, extensibility, compressibility and adhesiveness	Antibacterial QCS improved wound healing effect	Qu et al. (2018)
		DexIEME	Crosslinking of alkene		Bulk hydrogel		Restored full skin structures on both pre-existing scars and acute wounds by modulating immune	Sun (2017)
		starPEG and heparin	Thiol-ene addition		Bulk hydrogel		Scavenged inflammatory chemokines for diabetic wound healing	Lohmann et al. (2017)
		Catechol modified PEG and UPy modified gelatin	Catechol–Fe3+ coordination and UPy hydrogen bond	Near-infrared and pH	Bulk hydrogel	Adhesiveness, shape adaptability, self-healing, antioxidant, photothermal antibacterial, degradability and removability	Promoted full-thickness wound healing by regulating inflammation, accelerating collagen deposition, granulation tissue formation, and vascularization	Zhao et al. (2020d)
Drug and biomolecule delivery	hEGF	PEG and heparin	Thiol-ene addition		Bulk hydrogel		Accelerated wound healing by hEGF delivery	Goh et al. (2016)
	VEGF	starPEG and heparin	Amidation		Bulk hydrogel		Sustained release of VEGF with low anticoagulant activity and promotion of angiogenesis for diabetic wounds	Freudenberg et al. (2015)
	EGF and Cur	Copolymer of lactic acid and reverse Pluronic®10R5	Thermo-gelling behavior	Temperature	In situ gelation		Increased granulation tissue formation, collagen deposition, and angiogenesis	Guo et al. (2016)
	CeONs and AMPs	Gelatin methacryloyl	Crosslinking of alkene		Sprayable hydrogel	Sprayability, adhesiveness, antioxidant and antibacterial	Enhanced wound healing speed and promoted remodeling of the healed skin	Cheng et al. (2021)
	BG and DFO	Sodium alginate	Ionic bond		In situ injection		Enhanced vascularization in diabetic wound by promoting HIF-1α and VEGF expression	Kong et al. (2018)
Cell delivery	hASCs	Gelatin	Schiff base bond		Microgel injection		Provided functionalized micro-niches for hASCs proliferation and growth factors secretion	Zeng et al. (2015)
	BMSCs	N-isopropylacrylamide polymers	Thermo-gelling behavior		Bulk hydrogel		Inhibited chronic inflammation and promoted growth factor secretion	Chen et al. (2015)
	ASCs	Aloe vera hydrogel			Injection		Improved angiogenesis and re-epithelialization, subsided inflammation and scar formation	Oryan et al. (2019)
	HUCPVC	Decellularized dermal matrix			Bulk hydrogel		Improved VEGFR-2 expression and vascular density	Milan et al. (2016)
	Dermal fibroblasts	Gelatin	Catechol crosslinking by HRP		In situ gelation after injection		Facilitated cell survival and retention, promoted mature collagen deposition and vascularization	Lee et al. (2014)
	Fibroblasts and insulin	Poly(vinyl alcohol), PEG and CS	Schiff base bond and phenylboronate ester	pH and glucose	In situ gelation		Promoted neovascularization and collagen deposition	Zhao et al. (2017a)
	Cord Blood- Endothelial Colony-Forming Cells (ECFCs)	Hyaluronic Acid Hydrogels	Thiol-Acrylate conjugation	MMP- sensitive	Bulk hydrogels	Adhesiveness, degradability	Provided micro-niches for ECFCs to form vascular networks and integrate with the host vasculatures. Improve angiogenesis and support healthy epithelialization.	Hanjaya-Putra et al. (2013)