Nanoparticles incorporated collagen hydrogels for sustained release of EGF

Abstract

AbstractTherapeutic biomolecules such as growth factors are essential for enhancing the regeneration of damaged tissues by inducing cell signaling activities such as cell migration, proliferation, and differentiation. Nevertheless, they have short half‐lives in physiological conditions due to fast deactivation and degradation by enzymes and other physical and chemical reactions. Therefore, there is a great need for the suitable target delivery of nanoparticles to improve the release kinetics of growth factors as well as their therapeutic effectiveness. The main objective of this study was to develope and characterize a sustained delivery system consisting of an EGF‐encapslated chitosan nanoparticles and collagen hydrogel carrier system to achieve a sustained release of EGF. In this study, we made EGF‐loaded chitosan nanoparticles, which could be incorporated into an engineered collagen hydrogel scaffold. The particles were spherical in the size range of 60–100 nm. The release kinetics of EGF showed the release of growth factors in a sustained manner. Live‐dead staining of human corneal epithelial (HCEC) cells was done to evaluate the cytotoxicity of the nanoparticles.