Fabrication of bioactive glass-introduced nanofibrous membranes with multifunctions for potential wound dressing

Abstract

Currently, a variety of polymer-based membranes are available, which differ in compositions and microstructures, but are far away from being used in the treatment of chronic, nonhealing wounds. Herein, we design new bioactive glass (BG)-introduced multifunctional gelatin/chitosan (G/C) nanofibrous membranes for chronic wound healing, due to the efficacy of the antibacterial and wound healing properties of chitosan and BG. The water contact angle of the mats increased and the water uptake capacity decreased with an increasing BG content, suggesting that their surface hydrophilicity can be adjusted by the BG component. The biologically active ions were readily released from the mats, which is potentially favorable for infectious wounds. Also, the G/C–BG mats were well tolerated by the surrounding host tissue without causing any inflammation and fully degraded by the subcutaneous tissue of rats after 4 weeks post operation. Therefore, the G/C–BG mats afforded a close biomimicry to the fibrous nanostructure of natural soft tissues to facilitate chronic, nonhealing wound treatment.