The Role of Natural Hydrogels in Enhancing Wound Healing: From Biomaterials to Bioactive Therapies

Wound healing is a complex, multifaceted biological process that plays a vital role in re-covery and overall quality of life. However, conventional wound care methods often prove insufficient, resulting in delayed healing, higher infection risk, and other complications. In response, biomaterials—especially hydrogels—have gained attention for their advanced wound management capabilities, which support wound healing by maintaining moisture, mimicking the extracellular matrix (ECM), and enabling targeted drug delivery triggered by wound-specific signals. They frequently carry antimicrobial or anti-inflammatory agents, promote blood vessel and nerve regeneration, and are biocompatible with custom-izable properties suited to different healing stages. Natural hydrogels, derived from poly-saccharides, proteins, and peptides, offer several advantages over synthetic options, in-cluding inherent bioactivity, enzymatic degradability, and cell-adhesive qualities that closely resemble the native ECM. These features facilitate cell interaction, modulate in-flammation, and speed up tissue remodeling. Moreover, natural hydrogels can be engi-neered as delivery systems for therapeutic agents like antimicrobial compounds, nanopar-ticles, growth factors, and exosomes. This review discusses recent advances in the use of natural hydrogels as multifunctional wound dressings and delivery platforms, with a fo-cus on their composition, mechanisms of action, and potential for treating chronic and in-fected wounds by incorporating antimicrobial and regenerative additives such as silver and zinc oxide nanoparticles.