Chitosan‐Placental ECM Composite Thermos‐Responsive Hydrogel as a Biomimetic Wound Dressing with Angiogenic Property

• Published in: Macromolecular bioscience 2023-02, Vol.23 (2), p.e2200386-n/a
• Main Authors: Azadbakht, Abdolnaser, Alizadeh, Sanaz, Aliakbar Ahovan, Zahra, Khosrowpour, Zahra, Majidi, Mohammad, Pakzad, Saeedreza, Shojaei, Shahrokh, Chauhan, Narendra Pal Singh, Jafari, Marzieh, Gholipourmalekabadi, Mazaher
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Angiogenesis; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Antibacterial activity; Bandages; Biocompatibility; Biological properties; Biomechanics; Biomimetics; Cell adhesion; Chitosan; Chitosan - pharmacology; Extracellular matrix; Extracellular Matrix Proteins; Female; Glycerophosphate; Humans; hydrogel; Hydrogels; Hydrogels - pharmacology; Placenta; Pregnancy; resistant bacteria; smart hydrogels; Swelling ratio; thermos‐responsive; Vascular endothelial growth factor; Vascular endothelial growth factor receptors; wound dressing; Wound Healing; Wounds
• ISSN: 1616-5187; 1616-5195
• DOI: 10.1002/mabi.202200386

Attempts are being made to develop an ideal wound dressing with excellent biomechanical and biological properties. Here, a thermos‐responsive hydrogel is fabricated using chitosan (CTS) with various concentrations (1%, 2.5%, and 5% w/v) of solubilized placental extracellular matrix (ECM) and 20% β‐glycerophosphate to optimize a smart wound dressing hydrogel with improved biological behavior. The thermo‐responsive CTS (TCTS) alone or loaded with ECMs (ECM‐TCTS) demonstrate uniform morphology using SEM. TCTS and ECM1%‐TCTS and ECM2.5%‐TCTS show a gelation time of 5 min at 37 °C, while no gel formation is observed at 4 and 25 °C. ECM5%‐TCTS forms gel at both 25 and 37 °C. The degradation and swelling ratios increase as the ECM content of the hydrogel increase. All the constructs show excellent biocompatibility in vitro and in vivo, however, the hydrogels with a higher concentration of ECM demonstrate better cell adhesion for fibroblast cells and induce expression of angiogenic factors (VEGF and VEGFR) from HUVEC. Only the ECM5%‐TCTS has antibacterial activity against Acinetobacter baumannii ATCC 19606. The data obtained from the current study suggest the ECM2.5%‐TCTS as an optimized smart biomimetic wound dressing with improved angiogenic properties now promises to proceed with pre‐clinical and clinical investigations. A thermos‐sensitive hydrogel is fabricated from chitosan (CTS) and different concentrations of extracellular matrix (ECM). The ECM5%‐thermo‐responsive CTS (TCTS) shows gel formation at 25 and 37 °C, however other hydrogels have a thermos‐responsive behavior at 37 °C. ECM2.5%‐TCTS is considered as an optimized ECM‐TCTS hydrogel with angiogenic and wound healing properties, and now promises to proceed with pre‐clinical investigations.