School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Pharmaceutical Intelligent Equipment, Institute for Frontier Medical Technology, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, 333 Longteng Rd., Shanghai 201620, PR China.
Department of Sports Medicine, Department of Orthopedics, Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, 600 Yishan Rd., Shanghai 200233, PR China.
Carbohydr Polym. 2023 Dec 1;321:121248. doi: 10.1016/j.carbpol.2023.121248. Epub 2023 Aug 6.
The management of chronic wounds remains a challenging clinical problem worldwide, mainly because of secondary infections, excessive oxidative stress, and blocked angiogenesis. Aerogel is a novel material with high porosity and specific surface area that allows gas exchange and rapid absorption of a large amount of exudate as well as loading bioactive molecules. Therefore, functional aerogel can be an ideal material for chronic wound treatment. The multifunctional aerogel (CG-DA-VEGF) was prepared by a simple and eco-friendly freeze-drying process combined with harmless EDC/NHS as crosslinking agents using chitosan and dopamine-grafted gelatin as raw materials. The physicochemical characterization revealed that the CG-DA-VEGF aerogel had excellent water absorption, water retention, and mechanical properties, and could release VEGF continuously and stably. In vitro experiments demonstrated that the CG-DA-VEGF aerogel exhibited effective antioxidant and antibacterial properties, as well as superb cytocompatibility. In vivo experiments further confirmed that the CG-DA-VEGF aerogel could significantly improve angiogenesis and re-epithelialization, and promote collagen deposition, thus accelerating wound healing with excellent biosafety. These results suggest that the as-prepared CG-DA-VEGF aerogel may be adopted as a promising multifunctional graft for the treatment of chronic wounds.
慢性伤口的管理仍然是一个全球性的临床挑战，主要是由于继发感染、过度氧化应激和血管生成受阻。气凝胶是一种具有高孔隙率和比表面积的新型材料，允许气体交换和快速吸收大量渗出物以及负载生物活性分子。因此，功能性气凝胶可能是治疗慢性伤口的理想材料。通过简单且环保的冷冻干燥工艺，结合使用无害的 EDC/NHS 作为交联剂，以壳聚糖和多巴胺接枝明胶为原料，制备了多功能气凝胶（CG-DA-VEGF）。理化特性表明，CG-DA-VEGF 气凝胶具有优异的吸水性、保水性和机械性能，并且可以持续稳定地释放 VEGF。体外实验表明，CG-DA-VEGF 气凝胶具有有效的抗氧化和抗菌性能，以及极好的细胞相容性。体内实验进一步证实，CG-DA-VEGF 气凝胶可显著促进血管生成和上皮再形成，并促进胶原沉积，从而具有良好的生物安全性，加速伤口愈合。这些结果表明，所制备的 CG-DA-VEGF 气凝胶可能被用作治疗慢性伤口的有前途的多功能移植物。
