Fabrication and In Vitro Characterization of Electrochemically Compacted Collagen/Sulfated Xylorhamnoglycuronan Matrix for Wound Healing Applications.

Lingzhi Kang,Zhi Chen,Zhilian Yue,Xiao Liu,Pia Winberg,Chris Baker,Gordon Wallace

doi:10.3390/polym10040415

Abstract

Skin autografts are in great demand due to injuries and disease, but there are challenges using live tissue sources, and synthetic tissue is still in its infancy. In this study, an electrocompaction method was applied to fabricate the densely packed and highly ordered collagen/sulfated xylorhamnoglycuronan (SXRGlu) scaffold which closely mimicked the major structure and components in natural skin tissue. The fabricated electrocompacted collagen/SXRGlu matrices (ECLCU) were characterized in terms of micromorphology, mechanical property, water uptake ability and degradability. The viability, proliferation and morphology of human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) cells on the fabricated matrices were also evaluated. The results indicated that the electrocompaction process could promote HDFs proliferation and SXRGlu could improve the water uptake ability and matrices’ stability against collagenase degradation, and support fibroblast spreading on the ECLCU matrices. Therefore, all these results suggest that the electrocompacted collagen/SXRGlu scaffold is a potential candidate as a dermal substitute with enhanced biostability and biocompatibility.

Highlights

Skin is the largest organ of the human body and it acts as a physical barrier against the external environment
After EDC/NHS crosslinking (Figure 2F) and sulfated xylorhamnoglycuronan (SXRGlu) incorporation (Figure 2G), the highly ordered pattern of collagen fibers in electrochemically aligned collagen (ECL) was retained. These results are consistent with previously reported works [10] and demonstrated that densely packed and highly ordered collagen matrices were successfully fabricated using the electrocompaction method
Over the 7-day culture, there is no significant difference in cell numbers between electrocompacted and crosslinked collagen (ECLC) and ECLCU, which showed that the incorporation of SXRGlu did not inhibit the proliferation of human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs)

Summary

Introduction

Skin is the largest organ of the human body and it acts as a physical barrier against the external environment. Compromised wound healing is a major issue in the treatment of massive skin lesions. Widely used strategies to treat skin wounds include wound dressing, skin autografts and allografts [1]. These applications are limited by various disadvantages, such as low adhesion to lesions, donor shortage, and immune rejection [1]. Advances in tissue engineering have made the production of artificial skin possible. Skin tissue engineering alleviates the issue associated with donor shortage and prompts wound management via the use of bioactive cell-material complex scaffolds [2].

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Conclusion