Table 4.
Commercial production of hydrogel wound dressings.
| Type of Hydrogel | Cross Linker | Characterization | Properties | Limitation | Commercial Producing Companies | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alginate | Natural ionic cross linker | A polysaccharide supports cell production of collagen I, reducing the concentration of proinflammatory cytokines in chronic wounds. Due to the hydrophilic nature, it can absorb a high amount of wound exudate. | Hemostatic effect | - |
Nu-Gel® (Systagenix), Tegagel® (3M GmbH)), Algosteril® (4M Medical GmbH), Curasorb® Alginate (Medtronic), Sorbsan® (B. Braun Melsungen AG)) Flexible® (Coloplast AG), Kendall™ Hydrocolloid Dressing (Medtronic)). |
[102,105] |
| Chitosan | Natural hydrogel | Hemostatic, bacteriostatic, fungistatic properties. | Accelerates healing rate | Dependent on the molecular weight of the macromolecules low elasticity leading to difficulty in producing fibrous wound dressings. |
KytoCel® (MasterCare Medical GmbH), Chitoderm® plus (Trusetal Verb and stoffwerk GmbH), a chitosan-coated dressing. |
[106,107,108,109,110,111,112] |
| Collagen protein | Natural hydrogel | It is found in ECM, blood vessels, bones and tendons naturally. Collagens of bovine, porcine and avian derivation are common medical products. | High liquid absorbance capability and good mechanical strength. Enhanced vascularization, granulation tissue formation and collagen deposition via fibroblasts, endothelial cells and keratinocytes. | Rapid loss of stability and shape due to enzymatic degradation. Pathogen transmission risk. |
CellerateRX® (Wound Care Innovations LLC), Regenecare® Wound Gel (MPM Medical Inc.), Wun’Dres® (Coloplast AG)), Biobrane® (Smith & Nephew), CollaSorb® (Paul Hartmann AG), Fibracol® (Acelity)) Medifil® (Human Bio Science, Inc.), Stimulen™ (Southwest Technologies, Inc.)) |
[113,114,115,116,117,118,119,120] |
| Collagen | Synthetic | Well-defined chemical structure and precise modified desired material properties. | Limited activity wound healing process. | polyacrylamide/polysaccharide based FlexiGel® (Smith & Nephew), Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG)/oakin based Oakin® hydrogel wound dressing (Amerigel), Polyurethane (PU) based AquaClear® dressing (Paul Hartmann AG). |
[121] |