Recent advances in PVA-polysaccharide based hydrogels and electrospun nanofibers in biomedical applications: A review

Abstract

Among several types of carbohydrate polymers blend PVA hydrogel membranes used for biomedical applications in particular wound dressings; electrospun nanofibrous membranes have gained increased interest because of their extraordinary features e.g. huge surface area to volume ratio, high porosity, adequate permeability, excellent wound-exudates absorption capacity, architecture similarity with skin ECM and sustained release-profile over long time. In this study, modern perspectives of synthesized/developed electrospun nanofibrous hydrogel membranes based popular carbohydrate polymers blend PVA which recently have been employed for versatile biomedical applications particularly wound dressings, were discussed intensively and compared in detail with traditional fabricated membranes based films, as well. Clinically relevant and advantages of electrospun nanofibrous membranes were discussed in terms of their biocompatibility and easily fabrication and functionalization in different biomedical applications.

Keywords: Biomedical applications; Electrospinning; Hydrogel membranes; Nanofibers; Preparation methods.