Polymers in the treatment of wounds: realities and perspectives

Today, biopolymers and biomaterials are a broad and growing sphere of interest to both specialists from various fields of science and to society as a whole. The paper discusses the issues concerning the terminological interpretation of concepts, such as polymers, biodegradability, gels and hydrogels, hydrocolloids, films, sponges, and polymer matrices. It gives the results of the authors’ investigations of bandages as films and porous sponges containing the silver levels as given in the instruction (11 prototypes from different Russian and foreign manufacturers). Electron scanning microscopy revealed a varying content of the ground substance in the prototypes within the range from 0 (even no traces of silver were found) to 7.29 %. Thus, the effect of the test samples of bandages may not be always related to the active component that is positioned the ground components, and the therapeutic effect is achieved, for example, by the polymer base of this dressing agent. The main directions in further investigations of polymers for medical purposes are to elaborate technological approaches to producing biopolymers for the reduction of their cost and to make biomaterials with tailor-made properties. 

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