ABSTRACT
Chiara Gardin, Letizia Ferroni, Luca Lancerotto, Vincenzo Vindigni, Chiara Rigo, Marco Roman, Warren R. L. Cairns, and Barbara Zavan
CONTENTS
7.1 Overview of the Wound Healing Process .............................................. 144 7.2 Inammatory Phase .................................................................................. 145
7.2.1 Detailed Description of the Inammatory Phase ..................... 145 7.2.2 Applications of Nanotechnologies in Modulating and
Modifying the Inammatory Phase ........................................... 147 7.2.2.1 Direct Interaction between Nano-Structured
Drugs and Inammatory Cells ..................................... 148 7.2.2.2 Direct Interaction between Nanotechnology-
Based Drugs and Inammatory Enzymes .................. 150 7.2.2.3 Modication of the Wound Environment: Use of
Nanoparticles to Avoid Bacterial Colonization .......... 150 7.3 Proliferative Phase ..................................................................................... 164
7.3.1 Detailed Description of the Proliferative Phase ........................ 164 7.3.2 Applications of Nanotechnologies in Modulating and
Modifying the Proliferative Phase .............................................. 165 7.3.2.1 Nanostructured Biomaterials ........................................ 165 7.3.2.2 Surfaces Modication of Nanostructured
Biomaterials ..................................................................... 169 7.3.2.3 Drug-Delivering Nanostructured Biomaterials ......... 171
7.4 Remodeling Phase ..................................................................................... 174 7.4.1 Detailed Description of the Remodeling Phase ........................ 174 7.4.2 Applications of Nanotechnologies in Modulating and
Modifying the Remodeling Phase............................................... 175 7.5 Conclusions ................................................................................................. 176 References ............................................................................................................. 176
Nanotechnology is the branch of technology that manipulates matter on an atomic or molecular scale. Materials, devices, or structures are dened as “nano” when they have at least one dimension that ranges from 1 to 100 nm. Nanomaterials often have different physical (mechanical, electrical, optical, etc.) properties compared to the same material at macrodimensions. Nanostructured biomaterials have the advantage of small size, high porosity, and most importantly a high surface-area-to-volume ratio (Ngiam et al. 2011). The increased surface-area-to-volume ratio alters the mechanical, thermal, and catalytic properties of materials. These new properties allow unique and innovative applications of nanomaterials in many elds.
