The wound healing process remains a poorly understood biological mechanism. The high morbidity and mortality rates associated with chronic wounds are a critical concern to the health care industry. Although assessments and treatment options exist, these strategies have primarily relied on static wound dressings that do not consider the dynamic physicochemical microenvironment and can often create additional complications through the frequent dressing changing procedure. Inspired by the need for engineering "smart" bandages, this study resulted in a multifaceted approach to developing an adhesive-free, permeable, and multiplex sensor system. The electronic-extracellular matrix (e-ECM) platform is capable of noninvasively monitoring chemical and physical changes in real-time on a flexible, stretchable, and permeable biointegrated platform. The multiplex sensors are constructed atop a soft, thin, and microfibrous substrate of silicone to yield a conformal, adhesive-free, convective, or diffusive wound exudate flow, and passive gas transfer for increased cellular epithelization and unobstructed physical and chemical sensor monitoring at the wound site. This platform emulates the native epidermal mechanics and physical extracellular matrix architecture for intimate bio-integration. The multiple biosensor array can continuously examine inflammatory biomarker such as lactate, glucose, pH, oxygen, and wound temperature that correlates to the wound healing status. Additionally, a heating element was incorporated to maintain the optimal thermal conditions at the wound bed. The e-ECM electrochemical biosensors were tested in vitro, within phosphate-buffered saline, and ex vivo, within wound exudate. The "smart" wound bandage combines biocompatible materials, treatments, and monitoring modalities on a microfibrous platform for complex wound dynamic control and analysis.
Keywords: adhesive-free; electrochemical sensing; multiplex electronics; smart bandage; stretchable electronics; wound monitoring.