A new concept in the treatment of extravasation injury: controlled drug delivery systems.

PURPOSE

To investigate the effectiveness of the intralesionally injected controlled granulocyte-monocyte colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) releasing system in widening refractory extravasation wounds.

METHODS

The determination of in vitro GM-CSF release from chitosan gel was the first, and in vivo effect of the molecule was the second step of the study. Thirty-five Wistar-Albino rats were randomly divided into 5 groups: 1) control group (adriamycin group) (n=7); 2) adriamycin+normal saline group (n=7); 3) adriamycin+chitosan group (n=7); 4) adriamycin+1 μg/mL GM-CSF-loaded chitosan group (n=7); and 5) adriamycin+10 μg/mL GM-CSF loaded chitosan group (n=7). The wound area was measured macroscopically and histological examination was carried out for wound healing and tissue response to the polymer.

RESULTS

The best healing process was observed with the controlled released GM-CSF groups (groups 4 and 5). The 1 μg/mL GM-CSF loaded group showed superior wound healing than that of 10 μg/mL GM-CSF loaded gels. This result was correlated with the in vitro study which also showed increased drug release in the 1 μg/mL GM-CSF loaded group than the 10 μg/mL GMC-SF loaded gels.

CONCLUSION

This study suggests that GM-CSF, applied with controlled drug delivery system, can supply dynamic treatment options with long-lasting activity in single-dose administration.