The accelerating effect of chitosan‐silica hybrid dressing materials on the early phase of wound healing

摘要

Abstract Commercialized dressing materials with or without silver have played a passive role in early‐phase wound healing, protecting the skin defects from infections, absorbing exudate, and preventing dehydration. Chitosan (CTS)‐based sponges have been developed in pure or hybrid forms for accelerating wound healing, but their wound‐healing capabilities have not been extensively compared with widely used commercial dressing materials, providing limited information in a practical aspect. In this study, we have developed CTS‐silica (CTS‐Si) hybrid sponges with water absorption, flexibility, and mechanical behavior similar to those of CTS sponges. In vitro and in vivo tests were performed to compare the CTS‐Si sponges with three commercial dressing materials [gauze, polyurethane (PU), and silver‐containing hydrofiber (HF‐Ag)] in addition to CTS sponges. Both in vitro and in vivo tests showed that CTS‐Si sponges promoted fibroblast proliferation, leading to accelerated collagen synthesis, whereas the CTS sponges did not exhibit significant differences in fibroblast proliferation and collagen synthesis from gauze, PU, and HF‐Ag sponges. In case of CTS‐Si, the inflammatory cells were actively recruited to the wound by the influence of the released silicon ions from CTS‐Si sponges, which, in return, led to an enhanced secretion of growth factors, particularly TGF‐β during the early stage. The higher level of TGF‐β likely improved the proliferation of fibroblasts, and as a result, collagen synthesis by fibroblasts became remarkably productive, thereby increasing collagen density at the wound site. Therefore, the CTS‐Si hybrid sponges have considerable potential as a wound‐dressing material for accelerating wound healing. ? 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 105B: 1828–1839, 2017.