Theranostics 2024; 14(2):547-570. doi:10.7150/thno.87193 This issue Cite
Review
1. Department of Orthopedics, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1277 Jiefang Avenue, Wuhan 430022, China.
2. Hubei Province Key Laboratory of Oral and Maxillofacial Development and Regeneration, Wuhan 430022, China.
3. Division of Plastic Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02152, USA.
4. Department of Hand, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Microsurgery, Burn Center, BG Trauma Center Ludwigshafen, University of Heidelberg, Ludwig-Guttmann-Strasse 13, 67071 Ludwigshafen/Rhine, Germany.
5. Institute of Regenerative Biology and Medicine, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Max-Lebsche-Platz 31, 81377 Munich, Germany.
6. Department of Orthopaedics, Pingshan District People's Hospital of Shenzhen, Pingshan General Hospital of Southern Medical University, Shenzhen 518118, China.
7. Department of Biomedical Engineering, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9713 Groningen AV, The Netherlands.
8. W.J. Kolff Institute for Biomedical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Groningen, University Medical Center Groningen, Antonius Deusinglaan 1, 9713 Groningen AV, The Netherlands.
†Zhenhe Zhang, Hang Xue, Yuan Xiong and Yongtao Geng contributed equally to this work.
The treatment of wounds is a worldwide challenge, and wound infection can affect the effectiveness of wound treatment and further increase the disease burden. Copper is an essential trace element that has been shown to have broad-spectrum antibacterial effects and to be involved in the inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling stages of wound healing. Compared to treatments such as bioactive factors and skin grafts, copper has the advantage of being low-cost and easily available, and has received a lot of attention in wound healing. Recently, biomaterials made by incorporating copper into bioactive glasses, polymeric scaffolds and hydrogels have been used to promote wound healing by the release of copper ions. In addition, copper-incorporated biomaterials with catalytic, photothermal, and photosensitive properties can also accelerate wound healing through antibacterial and wound microenvironment regulation. This review summarizes the antibacterial mechanisms of copper- incorporated biomaterials and their roles in wound healing, and discusses the current challenges. A comprehensive understanding of the role of copper in wounds will help to facilitate new preclinical and clinical studies, thus leading to the development of novel therapeutic tools.
Keywords: Copper, Antibacterial, Nanozyme, Photothermal therapy, Photodynamic therapy