Self-Assembling Peptide Nanofiber Scaffolds Accelerate Wound Healing

Abstract

Cutaneous wound repair regenerates skin integrity, but a chronic failure to heal results in compromised tissue function and increased morbidity. To address this, we have used an integrated approach, using nanobiotechnology to augment the rate of wound reepithelialization by combining self-assembling peptide (SAP) nanofiber scaffold and Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF). This SAP bioscaffold was tested in a bioengineered Human Skin Equivalent (HSE) tissue model that enabled wound reepithelialization to be monitored in a tissue that recapitulates molecular and cellular mechanisms of repair known to occur in human skin. We found that SAP underwent molecular self-assembly to form unique 3D structures that stably covered the surface of the wound, suggesting that this scaffold may serve as a viable wound dressing. We measured the rates of release of EGF from the SAP scaffold and determined that EGF was only released when the scaffold was in direct contact with the HSE. By measuring the length of the epithelial tongue during wound reepithelialization, we found that SAP scaffolds containing EGF accelerated the rate of wound coverage by 5 fold when compared to controls without scaffolds and by 3.5 fold when compared to the scaffold without EGF. In conclusion, our experiments demonstrated that biomaterials composed of a biofunctionalized peptidic scaffold have many properties that are well-suited for the treatment of cutaneous wounds including wound coverage, functionalization with bioactive molecules, localized growth factor release and activation of wound repair.

Biochemical and Biophysical Cues in Matrix Design for Chronic and Diabetic Wound Treatment

“…238 The self-assembly of peptide-based nanofibers with EGF promoted wound healing in human tissue models. 80 Diverse self-assembly techniques 239 enable us to fabricate functional biomaterials as the wound dressings with tunable size, structure, and properties. Phase separation does not require any specific equipment and is able to produce 3D and porous materials.…”

Supramolecular Hydrogels for Regenerative Medicine

“…4d) has been used to locally deliver growth factors such as EGF to accelerate wound-healing in an in vitro model [84]. Both the EAK and RAD systems have been further developed to increase cell adhesion [85], and functional motifs such as laminin and collagen-mimicking sequences have been attached and optimized to culture cells in a 3D environment [86,87].…”

Designer Self‐Assembling Peptide Materials for Diverse Applications

“…Using the designer self-assembling peptide nanofiber system, every ingredient of the scaffold can be defined. Furthermore, it can be combined with multiple functionalities including the soluble factors [ [30] , also Gelain et al, submitted 2009]. Cells reside in a 3-D environment where the extracellular matrix receptors on the cell membranes can bind to the functional ligands appended to the peptide scaffolds.…”