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

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% beta-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 degrees C, while no gel formation is observed at 4 and 25 degrees C. ECM5%-TCTS forms gel at both 25 and 37 degrees 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.

Automated summary

A thermos-responsive hydrogel wound dressing with excellent biological properties is developed by incorporating solubilized placental extracellular matrix (ECM). The hydrogel with a higher ECM concentration demonstrates better cell adhesion and angiogenic properties.