Application of Biopolymers in Medical Textiles: Myriad of Opportunities

Nowadays, textile products are being used in several sectors for different purposes beyond imagination. Among these, a very important and emerging domain is medical and healthcare domain. Biopolymers, such as alginate, chitosan, cellulose, gelatin, and collagen, are polymers of natural origin produced by living organisms. They are known to be highly biocompatible and biodegradable. Current studies reported that biopolymers exhibit various health beneficial properties such as antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, hemostatic, cell proliferative, and antioxidant activities. So biopolymers could be used in the production of medical and paramedical textile devices, with drug delivery property, in the form of fibers, nanofibers, nonwoven, fabrics, sponges, nanoparticles and thin films. In addition, thank to its wound healing properties, biopolymers could be employed in the treatment of soft tissue infections. Biomaterials are able to slow down, then stop the bleeding of recent wounds by activating platelet agglutination. They could also promote the regeneration of tissue cells like muscles, skin, and nerves. Moreover, biopolymers-based nonwoven textile wound dressings can be used drug delivery carriers for wound healing. This paper highlights the structure and characteristics of natural biopolymers. The recent research advances and trends of biomass-derived materials and their derivatives in healthcare and medical textile devices for promotion of wound healing, tissue regeneration, and drug delivery in soft tissue diseases are investigated.