In situ injectable nano-composite hydrogel composed of curcumin, N,O-carboxymethyl chitosan and oxidized alginate for wound healing application.

In this paper, an in situ injectable nano-composite hydrogel composed of curcumin, N,O-carboxymethyl chitosan and oxidized alginate as a novel wound dressing was successfully developed for the dermal wound repair application. Nano-curcumin with improved stability and similar antioxidant efficiency compared with that of unmodified curcumin was developed by using methoxy poly(ethylene glycol)-b-poly(ε-caprolactone) copolymer (MPEG-PCL) as carrier followed by incorporating into the N,O-carboxymethyl chitosan/oxidized alginate hydrogel (CCS-OA hydrogel). In vitro release study revealed that the encapsulated nano-curcumin was slowly released from CCS-OA hydrogel with the diffusion-controllable manner at initial phase followed by the corrosion manner of hydrogel at terminal phase. In vivo wound healing study was performed by injecting hydrogels on rat dorsal wounds. Histological study revealed that application of nano-curcumin/CCS-OA hydrogel could significantly enhance the re-epithelialization of epidermis and collagen deposition in the wound tissue. DNA, protein and hydroxyproline content in wound tissue from each group were measured on 7th day of post wounding and the results also indicated that combined using nano-curcumin and CCS-OA hydrogel could significantly accelerate the process of wound healing. Therefore, all these results suggested that the developed nano-curcumin/CCS-OA hydrogel as a promising wound dressing might have potential application in the wound healing.