Platelet rich plasma–complexed hydrogel glue enhances skin wound healing in a diabetic rat model

Yunlong Zhang,Bin Cai,Yu Zhu,Jingwei Zhang

doi:10.32604/biocell.2022.015592

Abstract

Diabetic patients often exhibit delayed or incomplete progress in the healing of acute wounds, owing to poor blood perfusion. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has attracted much attention as a means to improve wound healing, because it contains high growth factor concentrations. However, the burst-like release of PRP growth factors results in a short half-life of these therapeutic proteins, thus greatly limiting the therapeutic effect. In this study, we prepared PRP from human umbilical cord blood and developed an in situ photocrosslinkable PRP hydrogel glue (HNPRP) by adding a photoresponsive hyaluronic acid (HA-NB) into PRP. The HNPRP hydrogel allowed for controlled release of platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB) and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) for up to 28 days. In vitro cell culture showed that HNPRP promoted migration of fibroblasts and keratinocytes as well as PRP and did not reveal the advantages of HNPRP. However, in a diabetic rat skin wound model, HNPRP treatment promoted faster wound closure. Furthermore, the HNPRP group, compared with the control, PRP and hydrogel only groups, showed significantly greater re-epithelialization and numbers of both newly formed and mature blood vessels. The HNPRP group also displayed higher collagen formation than did the control group. In conclusion, HNPRP enhances angiogenesis and skin regeneration and consequently achieves faster wound healing, thus extending its potential for clinical applications to treat diabetic skin wounds.

Highlights

Wound healing, a normal biological process that restores tissue homeostasis in the human body, requires the activation of platelets and a cascade of released factors
Characterization of HNPRP hydrogel glue First, we investigated the dynamic rheological properties of HNPRP hydrogel under light irradiation
Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) contains a variety of therapeutic growth factors, the chemotactic properties of growth factors can stimulate cell proliferation and the synthesis of extracellular matrix (ECM), contributing to the repair of wound tissue that are involved in wound healing and the repair of mineralized tissue (Max et al, 2001; van Elden et al, 2001; Yang et al, 2016)

Summary

Introduction

A normal biological process that restores tissue homeostasis in the human body, requires the activation of platelets and a cascade of released factors. Patients with diabetes often exhibit impaired healing of acute wounds because of deficient blood flow, increasing the complications and risks during treatment (Natarajan et al, 2000; Steed et al, 2006). There is an urgent need to explore effective treatments for wound healing in diabetes (Fehse et al, 2001). Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) and fibrin-based biomaterials, known as fibrin glues or fibrin sealants, have been used for more than 30 years and have demonstrated benefits in almost all surgical fields, including reconstructive plastic surgery and wound treatment (Burnouf et al, 2013). The activation of platelets and the release of growth factors are the key aspects of natural wound repair and tissue.

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Discussion

Conclusion