The role of microbial biosurfactants in enhancing wound repair: a comprehensive review

Wound healing is still considered a complex clinical challenge, particularly when complicated by microbial infections, impaired tissue regeneration, and persistent inflammation. Conventional wound care strategies, including synthetic surfactant-based dressings and hydrogels, are often limited by cytotoxicity, poor biodegradability, and decreased compatibility with host tissues. To address these limitations, biosurfactants-naturally occurring surface-active compounds produced by microorganisms-have drawn considerable attention for their therapeutic potential in wound management. These molecules exhibit lower toxicity, enhanced biodegradability, and unique physicochemical characteristics compared to their synthetic surfactants, making them attractive candidates for biomedical applications. The intervention of biosurfactant-based wound care has been explored through topical formulations, hydrogel composites, and innovative dressing materials intended to accelerate wound closure. Their antibacterial and antifungal properties help to reduce microbial load, while anti-inflammatory activity aids modulation of the wound microenvironment, facilitating tissue regeneration and re-epithelialization. When compared with traditional wound care therapies, biosurfactant-based systems show superior safety, environmental sustainability, and therapeutic efficacy. For instance, biosurfactant-incorporated hydrogels provide improved drug delivery capacity, moisture balance, and biofilm-disrupting ability, outperforming the performance of traditional formulations. Recent investigations indicate that biosurfactants enhance wound healing by accelerating wound closure, reducing the risk of infection, and promoting the regeneration of damaged tissues. Nevertheless, challenges such as production scalability, stability in complex formulations, and the need for rigorous clinical validation remain obstacles to their widespread adoption. Overall, biosurfactants represent a promising frontier in wound management, offering a sustainable, biocompatible, and multifunctional alternative to conventional therapies with the potential to advance next-generation wound care strategies significantly.