Promotion of dermal regeneration using pullulan/gelatin porous skin substitute

Abstract

Tissue-engineered dermal substitutes represent a promising approach to improve wound healing and provide more sufficient regeneration, compared with current clinical standards on care of large wounds, early excision, and grafting of autografts.However, inadequate regenerative capacity, impaired regeneration/degradation profile, and high cost of current commercial tissue-engineered dermal regeneration templates hinder their utilization, and the development of an efficient and costeffective tissue-engineered dermal substitute remains a challenge. Inspired from our previously reported data on a pullulan/gelatin scaffold, here we present a new generation of a porous pullulan/gelatin scaffold (PG2) served as a dermal substitute with enhanced chemical and structural characteristics. PG2 shows excellent biocompatibility (viability, migration, and proliferation), assessed by in vitro incorporation of human dermal fibroblasts in comparison with the Integra® dermal regeneration template (Control). When applied on a mouse full-thickness excisional wound, PG2 shows rapid scaffold degradation, more granulation tissue, more collagen deposition, and more cellularity in comparison with Control at 20 days post surgery. The faster degradation is likely due to the enhanced recruitment of inflammatory macrophages to the scaffold from the wound bed, and that leads to earlier maturation of granulation tissue with less myofibroblastic cells. Collectively, our data reveal PG2's characteristics as an applicable dermal substitute with excellent dermal regeneration, which may attenuate scar formation.

Pullulan‐Collagen hydrogel wound dressing promotes dermal remodelling and wound healing compared to commercially available collagen dressings

“…A previous study by Wong et al showed that pullulan‐collagen hydrogel dressings attenuated macrophage (F4/80 + ) recruitment in hydrogel‐treated wounds compared with Control wounds 12 . Further, Cheng et al observed fewer macrophages in the wound bed of pullulan‐gelatin hydrogel scaffold‐treated wounds compared to controls 33 . Both studies showed improved healing with their respective pullulan hydrogels, indicating that reducing the number of infiltrating macrophages and inflammatory cells within the healing wound bed leads to improved healing outcomes, including mitigation of scar formation.…”

“…12 Further, Cheng et al observed fewer macrophages in the wound bed of pullulan-gelatin hydrogel scaffold-treated wounds compared to controls. 33 Both studies showed improved healing with their respective pullulan hydrogels, indicating that reducing the number of infiltrating macrophages and inflammatory cells within the healing wound bed leads to improved healing outcomes, including mitigation of scar formation. Although macrophages are essential in wound repair, it has been hypothesized that heavy recruitment of these cell types may delay matrix deposition during the early phases of wound healing due to their phagocytic and enzymatic activity.…”

Electrospun Biomimetic Nanofibrous Scaffolds: A Promising Prospect for Bone Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine

“…It is regarded as an excellent biomaterial because of its low cost, biodegradability, and biocompatibility. RGD (arginine–glycine–aspartic acid) is the peptide sequence present in gelatin and it helps in cell adherence, growth, and migration of BMSC (bone marrow stromal cells) [ 93 ]. Gel’s properties have enticed several researchers to use it as a bone regeneration material; however, Gel decomposes quickly and has a low mechanical strength.…”

Artificial Dermal Scaffold Loaded with Platelet-Rich Plasma Promotes Wound Healing in Pigs by Favoring Angiogenesis

“…Bonding with scaffold materials with certain mechanical strength is required. The artificial dermal scaffold has good biocompatibility [ 28 ], suitable mechanical strength (can resist traction and shear forces) [ 29 ], and has a porous structure conducive to the progress of cell metabolism [ 30 ]. However, the current clinically used artificial dermal materials all have the disadvantage of insufficient vascular regeneration [ 31 ].…”