Advances in gelatin-based hydrogels for wound management

Skin wounds can be classified into two categories, namely acute and chronic wounds. While acute wounds are healed by the normal wound healing process, chronic wounds are not normally healed, causing inflammation, pain, discomfort, serious complications, and economic burden owing to treatment costs. To alleviate and treat chronic wounds, various biomaterials have been developed. Among them, in situ forming polymeric hydrogels have been widely used as a promising wound care material due to their beneficial properties, including sol-gel phase transition, moisturizing effect on the surrounding environment, biocompatibility, and structural similarity to the native extracellular matrix. The development of bioactive hydrogels that provide artificial cellular microenvironments or stimulate surrounding tissues through physicochemical and biological stimuli is an emerging trend in the fabrication of hydrogels. Notably, gelatin-based hydrogels have attracted much attention as bioactive matrices owing to their biocompatibility, biodegradability, and various functional moieties for chemical modification. In this review, we discuss the development and use of advanced gelatin-based hydrogels for wound management and tissue regeneration.