Fecha de publicación: -- Fuente: PubMed "propolis" RSC Adv. 2026 Oct 16. doi: 10.1039/d6ra07521e. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTWound management remains a persistent global health burden because conventional dressings largely address the symptoms of a wound rather than the disrupted molecular signalling that stalls its healing. Rather than cataloguing the properties and applications of propolis and chitosan in isolation, this review interrogates the mechanistic basis by which their combination as a biomembrane redirects wound biology. Although attention to propolis-chitosan systems is increasing, the physicochemical basis of their interaction remains poorly understood. Specifically, how chitosan's cationic amine groups interact with propolis polyphenols via hydrogen bonding, electrostatic forces, and possible covalent crosslinking is unclear. Consequently, structure-property relationships affecting membrane crosslinking, swelling, degradation, and controlled release remain unresolved. Chitosan supplies a structural scaffold that supports cellular adhesion and migration, while propolis provides flavonoids and caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE), which engage defined molecular targets across the repair cascade. We reconstruct this cascade stepwise, starting with hemostasis: chitosan-mediated platelet and erythrocyte interactions, leading to clot formation; inflammation: suppression of NF-κB and MAPK to resolve excessive inflammatory signaling; proliferation: early re-epithelialization through H2O2 and AQP3 activation; proliferation: fibroblast activation and granulation tissue formation through TGF-β/Smad signaling; proliferation: angiogenesis and vascular recruitment through PI3K/eNOS/NO and VEGF; and remodeling: collagen-I deposition, fibroblast maturation, and extracellular matrix organization. By linking each formulation property to the specific signalling axis it modulates, rather than treating bioactivity and application as separate narratives, this review identifies where mechanistic evidence is strongest and where critical gaps persist, particularly around dose-dependent pathway crosstalk, batch-to-batch propolis variability, and the translation of ex vivo mechanistic findings into standardized, scalable membranes. Chitosan-propolis nanocomposite biomembranes meet the core requirements of an effective wound dressing (mechanical strength, selective permeability, biodegradability, and biocompatibility), and emerging imaging and molecular tools now make it possible to directly interrogate these signalling pathways within the biomaterial rather than inferring them by analogy. By integrating formulation science with an explicit molecular-mechanism framework, this review positions propolis-chitosan biomembranes as a mechanistically grounded, clinically translatable platform for next-generation wound-care strategies.PMID:42890535 | PMC:PMC13673416 | DOI:10.1039/d6ra07521e