Fabrication of Cyclodextrin-Based Hydrogels for Wound Healing: Progress, Limitations, and Prospects

Hydrogels are promising wound dressings due to their properties of excellent biocompatibility, hydrophilicity, and other benefits. Cyclodextrin (CD) has external hydrophilicity and internal hydrophobicity, with a three-dimensional hollow cone ring structure, which has robust complexing ability and is easily modified by various functional groups. CD and its derivatives can be employed as host macromolecules to construct supramolecular compounds through host–guest recognition; on the other hand, they are common drug carriers to encapsulate various substances. Therefore, ideal wound dressings can be designed by combining hydrogels, and CD hydrogels will maintain the moist environment needed for wound healing; meanwhile, the CD with hydrophobic surface and hydrophilic cavity not only endows the stimulus-responsive performance of hydrogels by identifying the corresponding functional guest molecules but also safeguards and regulates the release of bioactive compounds. In this review, CD-based hydrogels with different cross-linked methods are briefly described first. Subsequently, based on the roles and functions of CD in hydrogels, the design and application of CD-based hydrogels with stimulus-responsive and drug delivery properties for wound healing are summarized. Moreover, the limitations of current research and potential research avenues have been discussed, which may provide a reference for the subsequent research on CD-based hydrogels for skin injuries.