Carrier-mediated Gene and Drug Delivery for Dermal Wound Healing

Book excerpt: Wound healing following trauma, illness, or surgery is a complex process and is comprised of a particularly fragile sequence of biochemical events that are susceptible to interruption or failure, which can lead to non-healing chronic wounds, scarring and other issues. Non-healing wounds are also commonly associated with diabetes, arterial disease, infection, and the metabolic deficiencies of aging. Treatment of dermal wounds can therefore be challenging, and as such the ability to localise the effect of drugs and treatments to promote healing through protective materials is an attractive area of research. This book introduces the essential areas of skin anatomy and the wound healing process, and how this can be disrupted by various pathologies, and proceeds to outline how biomaterials and devices for dermal drug delivery (including controlled delivery via stimuli-responsive devices) can be utilised in effective wound management. This book is an ideal companion for postgraduates and researchers in a variety of disciplines including biomedical engineering, biomaterials, drug development and delivery, formulation science and tissue engineering.