An Integrated Smart Sensor Dressing for Real-Time Wound Microenvironment Monitoring and Promoting Angiogenesis and Wound Healing

Abstract

Prolonged chronic wound healing not only places great stress on patients but also increase the health care burden. Fortunately, the emergence of tissue-engineered dressings has provided a potential solution for these patients. Recently, the relationship between the wound microenvironment and wound healing has been gradually clarified. Therefore, the state of wounds can be roughly ascertained by monitoring the microenvironment in real time. Here, we designed a three-layer integrated smart dressing, including a biomimetic nanofibre membrane, microenvironment sensor and β-cyclodextrin-containing gelatine methacryloyl (GelMA + β-cd) UV-crosslinked hydrogel. The hydrogel helped increase the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) through hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) to promote neovascularization and wound healing. The microenvironment sensor, combined with the biological dressings, exhibited satisfactory measurement accuracy, stability, durability and biocompatibility. A BLE4.0 antenna was used to receive, display and upload wound microenvironment data in real time. Such integrated smart dressings can not only achieve biological functions but also monitor changes in the wound microenvironment in real time. These dressings can overcome the challenge of not knowing the state of the wound during the healing process and provide support for clinical work.