REVIEW article
Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Cell Adhesion and Migration
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2025.1666646
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Bone and Soft Tissue Repair: Bioengineering from Cellular Insights to Clinical ApplicationsView all articles
Hydrogels Incorporating Active Compounds from Traditional Chinese Medicine for Diabetic Wound Healing: Mechanistic Pathways and Bioengineering Progress
Provisionally accepted
- 1Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China
- 2Management and Science University, Shah Alam, Malaysia
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Diabetic wounds, especially foot ulcers, pose significant clinical challenges due to persistent inflammation, oxidative stress, impaired angiogenesis, and a high risk of infection. Advanced therapeutic strategies are needed to actively modulate the wound microenvironment. Hydrogels incorporating bioactive compounds derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), such as curcumin, baicalein, glycyrrhetinic acid, Astragalus polysaccharides, and Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides, offer a promising integrative approach. These hydrogels combine the biological activities of TCM compounds with the advantages of a moist, biocompatible wound dressing. This review highlights recent advancement (2020–2025) in TCM-based hydrogels for diabetic wound healing focusing on the design of these materials (e.g., curcumin, baicalein, glycyrrhetinic acid, Astragalus and Ganoderma polysaccharides) and the development of stimuli-responsive delivery systems (e.g., pH, enzymes, temperature, glucose and possibly magnetic/ electric fields). TCM-derived compounds can not only form or reinforce hydrogel networks but also impart therapeutic functions by modulating key cellular pathways involved in anti-inflammatory (NF-κB) and antioxidant responses (Nrf2/HO-1), angiogenesis (VEGF, PI3K/Akt), and tissue regeneration (TGF-β/Smad). Challenges in translating TCM-based hydrogles into clinical use, such as pharmacokinetic variability and stability of the active compounds, are also discussed. Furthermore, representative studies are critically compared to elucidate how different TCM–hydrogel systems enchance wound healing outcomes by improving tissue regeneration, accelerating wound closure, and combating infection through responsive release and localized delivery mechanism. TCM-based hydrogels offer a novel, multi-functional platforms to diabetic wounds. They represent a novel paradigm in chronic wound management. Continued interdisciplinary research and clinical translation of these integrative biomaterials could significantly advance precision regenerative therapy for diabetic patients.
Keywords: diabetic wound healing, Hydrogels, Traditional Chinese Medicine, mechanisms, Stimuli-responsive, self-assembly, Bioactive dressings
Received: 15 Jul 2025; Accepted: 28 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Tan, Wang, Wu and Zhang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Rui Zhang, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China
Suk Fei Tan, Management and Science University, Shah Alam, Malaysia
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.