Electrospun Nanofiber Dressings for Diabetic Wounds: From Single-Layer to Intelligent Composite Systems

Abstract

Diabetic chronic wounds have become a major challenge for clinical treatment due to their complex pathological microenvironment, including persistent inflammatory response, angiogenesis disorder, excessive oxidative stress, and susceptible infection. Traditional dressings as a passive barrier have difficulty meeting the above multiple treatment needs. Electrospinning technology, with its ability to mimic the fibrous network structure of the natural extracellular matrix (ECM), offers a high specific surface area, controllable porosity, and excellent drug-loading capacity, making it an ideal platform for developing a new generation of multifunctional wound dressings. This article provides a systematic review of the research progress on electrospun nanofiber dressings in the treatment of diabetic wounds, focusing on the design evolution from basic single-layer structures to advanced complex structures and elucidating the mechanisms of action and quantifiable effects of each structural type in addressing specific pathological challenges. We also compared the current status of clinical translation for electrospun dressings with that of other advanced wound care platforms and proposed a standardized preclinical evaluation framework. A large number of research data show that these advanced designs can effectively improve the quality of healing. Finally, this paper points out the challenges faced by this field, such as scalable fabrication, in vivo reliability of smart systems, and long-term biosafety, and provides theoretical basis and technical reference for the design of efficient and intelligent electrostatic spinning diabetic wound dressings.