Hot or cold fomentation at the wound site may reduce inflammation and fasten the healing process. The conventional approaches used for instant healing of skin wounds include the use of natural products that have anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and antioxidant properties, such as turmeric (active component curcumin), honey, etc. The molecular mechanism of skin wound healing mainly involves production of various growth factors, such as epidermal growth factors (EGF) and tissue growth factors alpha and beta (TGF-α, TGF-β), etc. In particular, skin tissue wounds are categorized as epidermal, dermal or dermo-epidermal, based on the degree and intensity of such wounds. The process of wound healing is more or less similar in all types of tissues, including skin tissue. Wound healing is a stepwise process which includes (1) an inflammatory stage characterized by macrophage or leucocytes infiltration and cytokine production (2) a proliferative phase which includes removal of damaged tissue and formation of granulation tissue in the wound (3) a maturation phase wherein extracellular matrix produced by the proliferative tissue becomes well-defined and (4) the formation of scar tissue indicating the completion of the wound healing process. More importantly, it is critical to restore the function of the damaged tissue or cell through rapid healing. In response to the injury or as a recovery or healing process, the major priority is to stop hemorrhage, to avoid excessive blood loss, and prevent microbial infection by infiltration of immune cells, such as neutrophils or macrophages. Wounds are defined as disruption of any tissue or cellular integrity due to mechanical, physical or metabolism (mainly due to diabetes mellitus) related injuries. In this review, we discuss various types of scaffolding approaches and biomaterials used in the field of skin tissue engineering and more importantly their future prospects in skin tissue regeneration efforts. At the same time, emphasis on some of the leading challenges in the field of skin tissue engineering, such as cell interaction with scaffolds, faster cellular proliferation/differentiation, and vascularization of engineered tissues, is inevitable. Appropriate knowledge of the properties, advantages and disadvantages of various biomaterials and scaffolds will accelerate the production of suitable scaffolds for skin tissue regeneration applications. Composite scaffolds, which are a combination of natural or synthetic biomaterials, are highly biocompatible with improved tensile strength for effective skin tissue regeneration. These scaffolds are either made up of highly biocompatible natural biomaterials, such as collagen, chitosan, etc., or synthetic materials, such as polycaprolactone (PCL), and poly-ethylene-glycol (PEG), etc. There are several scaffold types, such as porous, fibrous, microsphere, hydrogel, composite and acellular, etc., with discrete advantages and disadvantages. Skin tissue regeneration is mainly based on the use of suitable scaffold matrices. Over centuries, the field of regenerative skin tissue engineering has had several advancements to facilitate faster wound healing and thereby restoration of skin.
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