Composite nano-titanium oxide-chitosan artificial skin exhibits strong wound-healing effect-an approach with anti-inflammatory and bactericidal kinetics.

A composite nano-TiO2-chitosan with collagen artificial skin (NTCAS) showed promising characteristics of moderate water absorptivity (110 wt.-%), fine thickness (0.34 mm), low density (0.33 mg x mm(-3)), moderate biodegradability (<3.0%), and favorable time-dependent biodegradability (0.0521 mg x mL(-1) x h(-1) on Day 0; 0.0006 mg x mL(-1) x h(-1)on Day 3 post covering). More importantly, it showed uniquely potent bactericidal (sterilization) property with relatively large values of pseudo first-order kinetic coefficients (0.1736-0.0360 min(-1)) for TiO2 contents ranging from 2.63 x 10(-5) to 2.11 x 10(-4) mg x cm(-2). In wounded subjects, NTCAS showed a steady level of TNF-alpha, while the IL-6 level reached a peak on Day 7, although significantly lower than in the control and Duoderm groups. In the animal model, NTCAS showed better and faster recovery than the other groups, which can be attributed to the unique bactericidal effect of nano-TiO2 and immune-enhancing effect of chitosan. NTCAS is a promising artificial skin substitute and is superior to any other market product currently in use.