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Abstract
The use of polymeric materials in biomedical applications has been growing exponentially. This phenomenon is due to progress in areas such as polymeric materials science, tissue engineering, pharmaceutical technology and combined medical devices. In particular, the development of concepts involving polymers that react to external stimuli has raised an increasing interest in the investigation of products to complement the use in medical devices and pharmaceutical formulations to drug delivery. The stimulus-sensitive polymers have the ability to respond to variations in the surrounding environment, examples are thermosensitive polymers, polymers sensitive to pH variations and ion-sensitive. By altering their properties and their microstructure, they can be used as drug delivery systems. The topical treatment of wounds includes clinical and surgical methods, among clinician, dressing are the most frequently used. The dressings are used to improve the conditions of the wound and can be, in some occasions, the definitive treatment itself. Conventional topical medical devices such as gauzes have limitations, such as sticking to the wound, which hampers therapeutic efficacy. In this paper it is presented representative examples of smart polymers that are capable of responding to stimuli and controlling the release of active molecules, and which may be used in the therapeutic area of topical wound care.
Graphical Abstract
Conflicts of interest
The authors have declared no conflict of interest.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank Ivan Antonio Neumann for helping to draw the figure.