Biomaterials-mediated sequential drug delivery: Emerging trends for wound healing

Wound healing is a series of complex biological events that are tightly coordinated by the body. However, this physiological process is compromised in a pathological setting and underlie conditions including diabetic complications, infectious diseases and chronic inflammatory conditions. Clinically, this translates to multiple pathological features collectively exhibited (microbial colonization, chronic inflammation and impaired regenerative processes). Due to these pathological features, modern wound care approaches have changed from simple passive coverage products to advanced dressing systems which incorporate multifunctional therapies. To comprehensively elucidate recent advancements in advanced wound dressings for drug delivery applications, this review systematically examines material-driven drug release strategies through multiple analytical dimensions. The discussion encompasses structurally engineered controlled-release systems featuring bilayer architectures, layer-by-layer assembly techniques and porous matrix designs, as well as intelligent stimulus-responsive mechanisms based on physicochemical properties, including physical condition modulation, swelling/degradation behavior control, dynamic chemical bond engineering and crosslinking network optimization. Through critical analysis of these cutting-edge technologies, this article provides insightful perspectives on their clinical translation potential and future trajectories.