Electrospun chitosan nanofibers for wound healing application

Electrospun nanofibers have been considered as relatively ideal material system for the design and construction of surgical wound dressings in the past few decades. Although there are lots of other biopolymers employed for electrospinning, chitosan is one of the most important biopolymers for the fabrication of electrospun nanofibers, due to its nontoxic, antibacterial, biocompatible as well as biodegradable properties. Electrospun chitosan nanofibers with random or aligned fiber structure can further be cross-linked by physical, chemical and ionic crosslinking methods. The as-crosslinked electrospun chitosan nanofibrous membranes possess enhanced wet stability, improved mechanical property and good biocompatibility, which are necessary for wound healing application. The present work reviews the recent studies on the design and development of electrospun chitosan nanofibers and their applications for wound healing, such as antibacterial materials, hemostatic dressings, angiogenesis and immune regulation.