Bioglass promotes wound healing by affecting behaviors of endothelial cells, fibroblasts

摘要

Introduction: It has been widely accepted that bioactive materials can affect cell behaviors during tissue engineering process. Bioactive silicate material, such as bioglass (BG), is the first man-made inorganic material used in bone tissue engineering because of its excellent osteostimulatory ability. BG has been reported to be able to strongly affect cell behaviors, in particular, stimulate osteogenic differentiation of stem cells as well as vascularization of endothelial cells (ECs), which finally stimulates osteogenesis and angiogenesis. Here, we proposed that the BG may accelerate wound healing through affecting behaviors of cells involved in skin regeneration. Materials and Methods: Bioglass 45S5 and its ion products were used as materials. Human dermal fibroblast (HDFs) and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were used as cells. Ion products of Bioglass with gradient concentrations were added into cell culture medium to culture these cells in order to detect the effects of Bioglass ion products on cell behaviours. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was used to assess the expression of relative genes from cells. Immunofluorescence was used to detect relative proteins in cells. Cells were observed with a fluorescence microscope (Leica DM 2500) and images were taken with a CCD camera (Leica DFC 420C). Results and Discussion: After we investigated the effects of BG ion extracts on behaviors of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and human dermal fibroblasts (HDF) in vitro, we found that BG ionic products with certain concentrations stimulated migration of HUVECs and HDFs, collagen expression and myofibroblast differentiation of HDFs and expressions of vascular endothelial growth factor, basic fibroblast growth factor as well as their receptors from both of cells. In addition, BG ionic extracts prevented death of HUVECs following hypoxia through blocking hemichannel opening while gap junctional communications and vascular endothelial cadherin in HUVECs treated with certain BG ion extracts were enhanced, indicating the stimulatory effects of BG on communications between HUVECs. Application of BG directly on full thickness wound of rat accelerated wound closure through stimulating vascularization and reducing inflammation response in wound site. Conclusions: BG ionic products had strong effects on behaviours of ECs and fibroblasts, which could finally promote wound healing, indicating that BG has great application potential in wound healing.