Assessment of wound healing, biological effects of alginate/chitosan polyelectrolyte complexes

What is it about?

The present study assessed the potential effects of a PEC-based hydrogel on the skin wound and its promotion of the angiogenesis-related genes expression. The histological examination of skin and wound beds proved the efficiency of the used hydrogel to promote healing with accelerating the growth of tissues in the wounded areas and size contraction of the treated wounds compared to the non-treated wounds. The complex structure maintained certain levels of VEGF mRNA in most post-wounding days with a maximum expression after 7 days of application, with controlling the vWF gene expression, so can guarantee the acceleration of suitable blood supply to the injured tissues in addition to performing their other functions. These gene expression levels were significantly lower with the non-treated wounds.

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Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Many studies have examined the effects of polymers on the healing cascade and the expression of the corresponding genes. However; till our knowledge, the effects of wound dressings made of interpreting chains of different polymers in composites along with their degradation products on the genes involved in the angiogenic cascade have not been studied. To better determine the functionality of the developing vasculature during the healing of excision wounds treated with a composite dressing made of alginate and chitosan, the angiogenic response was studied by the quantitative measurement of two angiogenesis-controlling genes expression. The mRNA expression of VEGF and vWF genes using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was determined with assessing the skin maturity and testing the influence of the dressing in the histoarchitectural organization of the healing area.