In VivoPerformance of Chitosan/Soy-Based Membranes as Wound-Dressing Devices for Acute Skin Wounds

Abstract

Wound management represents a major clinical challenge on what concerns healing enhancement and pain control. The selection of an appropriate dressing plays an important role in both recovery and esthetic appearance of the regenerated tissue. Despite the wide range of available dressings, the progress in the wound care market relies on the increasing interest in using natural-based biomedical products. Herein, a rat wounddressing model of partial-thickness skin wounds was used to study newly developed chitosan/soy (cht/soy)-based membranes as wound-dressing materials. Healing and repair of nondressed, cht/soy membrane-dressed, and Epigard Ò -dressed wounds were followed macroscopically and histologically for 1 and 2 weeks. cht/soy membranes performed better than the controls, promoting a faster wound repair. Re-epithelialization, observed 1 week after wounding, was followed by cornification of the outermost epidermal layer at the second week of dressing, indicating repair of the wounded tissue. The use of this rodent model, although in impaired healing conditions, may enclose some drawbacks regarding the inevitable wound contraction. Moreover, being the main purpose the evaluation of cht/soy-based membranes' performance in the absence of growth factors, the choice of a clinically relevant positive control was limited to a polymeric mesh, without any growth factor influencing skin healing/repair, Epigard. These new cht/soy membranes possess the desired features regarding healing/repair stimulation, ease of handling, and final esthetic appearance-thus, valuable properties for wound dressings.

Current wound healing procedures and potential care

“…Chitosan based implants have shown a minimal body reaction. Chitosan has largely been investigated due to its favorable properties suitable for many medical applications including wound healing [88,89]. Moura et al, developed the diabetic wound dressings using 5-methyl pyrrolidinone chitosan (MPC) which delivers neurotensin, a neuropeptide that acts as an inflammatory modulator in wound healing.…”

Controlled drug release for tissue engineering

“…19 Natural scaffolds sometimes lead to unwanted host inflammatory responses, although ways to harness and/or reduce the inflammatory responses caused by natural materials are being studied. 20–23 Alternatively, synthetic materials may overcomesome of these limitations in natural materials.…”

Biodegradable soy wound dressings with controlled release of antibiotics: Results from a guinea pig burn model

“…Santos et al [16] developed chitosan/soy (cht/soy)-based membranes as wound-dressing materials and showed that these new membranes possess the desired features for healing/repair stimulation, ease of handling, and final esthetic appearance, which are valuable properties for wound dressings.…”