Effect of Vitamin C/Hydrocortisone Immobilization within Curdlan-Based Wound Dressings on In Vitro Cellular Response in Context of the Management of Chronic and Burn Wounds.

Michal Wojcik,Malgorzata Koziol,Vladyslav Vivcharenko,Agata Przekora,Paulina Kazimierczak

doi:10.3390/ijms222111474

Michal Wojcik, Malgorzata Koziol + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms222111474

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Abstract

Bioactive dressings are usually produced using natural or synthetic polymers. Recently, special attention has been paid to β-glucans that act as immunomodulators and have pro-healing properties. The aim of this research was to use β-1,3-glucan (curdlan) as a base for the production of bioactive dressing materials (curdlan/agarose and curdlan/chitosan) that were additionally enriched with vitamin C and/or hydrocortisone to improve healing of chronic and burn wounds. The secondary goal of the study was to compressively evaluate biological properties of the biomaterials. In this work, it was shown that vitamin C/hydrocortisone-enriched biomaterials exhibited faster vitamin C release profile than hydrocortisone. Consecutive release of the drugs is a desired phenomenon since it protects wounds against accumulation of high and toxic concentrations of the bioactive molecules. Moreover, biomaterials showed gradual release of low doses of the hydrocortisone, which is beneficial during management of burn wounds with hypergranulation tissue. Among all tested variants of biomaterials, dressing materials enriched with hydrocortisone and a mixture of vitamin C/hydrocortisone showed the best therapeutic potential since they had the ability to significantly reduce MMP-2 synthesis by macrophages and increase TGF-β1 release by skin cells. Moreover, materials containing hydrocortisone and its blend with vitamin C stimulated type I collagen deposition by fibroblasts and positively affected their migration and proliferation. Results of the experiments clearly showed that the developed biomaterials enriched with bioactive agents may be promising dressings for the management of non-healing chronic and burn wounds.

Highlights

Occurrence of some factors may disturb or delay the normal healing process, leading to chronic wounds [1]
The burst release of vitamin C from biomaterials is a good property since it may cause rapid scavenging of reactive oxygen species (ROS) what has a beneficial impact on the proper healing of chronic and burn wounds, which are characterized by the overproduction of these species [24]
Application of curdlan-based dressings enriched with hydrocortisone will allow for safe treatment of burn wounds with hypergranulation tissue without necessity of frequent dressing exchange

Summary

Introduction

Occurrence of some factors (e.g., infection, diabetes, arthritis) may disturb or delay the normal healing process, leading to chronic wounds [1]. Proper treatment and care of non-healing wounds may overcome their molecular and cellular deficiencies. Common technologies applied for the treatment of chronic wounds include negative pressure wound therapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, electrical stimulation, and various cellular/acellular therapies [3]. Every wound care technology requires application of appropriate wound dressing, which plays a crucial role in the regeneration process. Wound dressings should protect a wound bed against foreign bodies and microbes, as well as provide an appropriate moist environment and remove excessive wound exudate. Mentioned properties of the dressing material support appropriate wound healing process [4,5]

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