Wound healing effects of a Curcuma zedoaria polysaccharide with platelet-rich plasma exosomes assembled on chitosan/silk hydrogel sponge in a diabetic rat model

One homogeneous polysaccharide (ZWP) was successfully isolated and purified from the rhizomes of Curcuma zedoaria and the aim of present study was to determine the potential of chitosan/silk hydrogel sponge loaded with platelet-rich plasma exosomes (PRP-Exos), ZWP or PRP-Exos/ZWP on wound-healing in diabetic rats. An in vivo diabetic wound healing study showed that separate or combined treatments all resulted in a wound contraction in diabetic rats, as evidenced by a decrease of ulcer and an increase of epidermal thickness, but PRP-Exos/ZWP combination therapy was more successful in wound closing than either PRP-Exos or ZWP single administration. This could be due to the upregulation of collagen synthesis and deposition, as well as angiogenesis at the wound site. In addition to this, no side effects was observed in all treated groups during healing process. These findings provide a mechanistic basis for PRP-Exos/ZWP as a potential therapeutic strategy to accelerate skin repair in diabetes. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.