Engineering Lipid Nanocarriers for Wound Healing: From Microenvironment Modulation to Translational Nanomedicine

Chronic wounds remain a major clinical challenge because persistent inflammation, infection, oxidative stress, and impaired tissue regeneration can disrupt the normal healing process. Lipid-based nanocarriers offer a versatile strategy for addressing these barriers by improving the delivery, stability, and local activity of therapeutic cargo within the wound microenvironment. This review critically examines the engineering of major lipid-based platforms, including liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles, nanostructured lipid carriers, lipid/polymer hybrids, cubosomes, hexosomes, and exosome-mimetic vesicles, with emphasis on how their composition and structural features influence therapeutic performance. It discusses their roles in regulating inflammation, controlling microbial infections and biofilms, reducing oxidative stress, promoting angiogenesis, and supporting extracellular matrix remodeling. Recent applications in antimicrobial, gene, growth-factor, and regenerative therapies for diabetic, burn, and pressure wounds are highlighted, together with their integration into advanced topical formulations and wound dressings. Particular attention is given to biocompatibility, safety, preclinical evaluation, and the barriers that currently limit clinical translation. Finally, emerging opportunities in smart wound dressings, biosensing, personalized therapy, and AI-guided nanocarrier design are discussed. By connecting nanocarrier engineering with the biological complexity of wound repair, this review identifies key design considerations and future directions for developing more effective and clinically translatable lipid-based wound-healing platforms.