Issue 29, 2023

Agar/gelatin hydro-film containing EGF and Aloe vera for effective wound healing

Abstract

In the current study, we produced a hydro-film dressing for the treatment of chronic wounds. The hydro-film structure was composed of gelatin cross-linked with citric acid, agar and Aloe vera extract (AV); additionally epidermal growth factor (EGF) was loaded to promote wound healing. Due to the excellent hydrogel-forming ability of gelatin, the obtained hydro-film was able to swell 884 ± 36% of its dry weight, which could help controlling wound moisture. To improve gelatin mechanical properties, polymer chains were cross-linked with citric acid and agar, reaching an ultimate tensile strength that was in the highest range of human skin. In addition, it showed a slow degradation profile that resulted in a remaining weight of 28 ± 8% at day 28. Regarding, biological activity, the addition of AV and citric acid provided the ability to reduce human macrophage activation, which could help reverse the permanent inflammatory state of chronic wounds. Moreover, loaded EGF, together with the structural AV of the hydro-film, promoted human keratinocyte and fibroblast migration, respectively. Furthermore, the hydro-films presented excellent fibroblast adhesiveness, so they could be useful as provisional matrices for cell migration. Accordingly, these hydro-films showed suitable physicochemical characteristics and biological activity for chronic wound healing applications.

Graphical abstract: Agar/gelatin hydro-film containing EGF and Aloe vera for effective wound healing

  • This article is part of the themed collection: #MyFirstJMCB

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
25 Dec 2022
Accepted
21 Jun 2023
First published
22 Jun 2023
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

J. Mater. Chem. B, 2023,11, 6896-6910

Agar/gelatin hydro-film containing EGF and Aloe vera for effective wound healing

I. Garcia-Orue, E. Santos-Vizcaino, J. Uranga, K. de la Caba, P. Guerrero, M. Igartua and R. M. Hernandez, J. Mater. Chem. B, 2023, 11, 6896 DOI: 10.1039/D2TB02796H

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications, without requesting further permission from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given and it is not used for commercial purposes.

To request permission to reproduce material from this article in a commercial publication, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party commercial publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements