pH Modulation in Wound Healing and Infection Control
Summary
The regulation of pH within wounds plays a pivotal role in orchestrating cellular activity, antimicrobial defence and tissue repair. Healthy skin maintains a slightly acidic surface, which deters pathogenic colonisation and supports enzyme function. Following injury, the wound microenvironment often shifts towards alkalinity, impairing fibroblast proliferation, keratinocyte migration and collagen synthesis. Controlled acidification strategies restore optimal pH, enhance protease activity, promote angiogenesis and accelerate epithelialisation. Moreover, an acidic milieu potentiates the efficacy of weak organic acids and biocidal agents against biofilm-forming pathogens. Emerging biomaterials exploit pH-responsive networks to deliver therapeutics selectively in acidic wound beds, while biosensors map pH gradients in chronic ulcers to guide personalised interventions. Understanding the interplay between pH, metabolic by-products such as lactate, oxygenation and inflammatory mediators underpins the development of next-generation dressings and topical treatments that integrate pH modulation with antimicrobial and regenerative functions.
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pH Modulation in Wound Healing and Infection Control publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in ph modulation in wound healing and infection control across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
pH-responsive hydrogel: A three-dimensional polymer network that alters its swelling or drug-release profile in response to changes in acidity or alkalinity.
Acidic buffer: A solution of weak acids and their conjugate bases designed to maintain a stable low pH in biological environments.
Microenvironment: The local biochemical and biophysical conditions immediately surrounding cells within a wound site.
Epithelialisation: The process by which epithelial cells migrate across a wound bed to re-establish the skin barrier.
Viscoelasticity: The combined viscous and elastic response of a material when subjected to deformation.
References
- pH-responsive hydrogel with dual-crosslinked network of polyvinyl alcohol/boric acid for controlled release of salvianolic acid B: novel pro-regenerative mechanisms in scar inhibition and wound healing. Regenerative Biomaterials (2025).
- Simultaneous viscoelasticity and sprayability in antimicrobial acetic acid-alginate fluid gels. Biomaterials Advances (2024).
- Influence of Acidic pH on Wound Healing In Vivo: A Novel Perspective for Wound Treatment. International Journal of Molecular Sciences (2022).
- Luminescent Dual Sensors Reveal Extracellular pH-Gradients and Hypoxia on Chronic Wounds That Disrupt Epidermal Repair. Theranostics (2014).
- Oxygen, pH, Lactate, and Metabolism—How Old Knowledge and New Insights Might Be Combined for New Wound Treatment. Medicina (2021).
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