Evaluation of a bilayered, micropatterned hydrogel dressing for full-thickness wound healing
Nearly 12 million wounds are treated in emergency departments throughout the United States every year. The limitations of current treatments for complex, full-thickness wounds are the driving force for the development of new wound treatment devices that result in faster healing of both dermal and epidermal tissue. Here, a bilayered, biodegradable hydrogel dressing that uses microarchitecture to guide two key steps in the proliferative phase of wound healing, re-epithelialization, and revascularization, was evaluated in vitro in a cell migration assay and in vivo in a bipedicle ischemic rat wound model. Results indicate that the Sharklet™-micropatterned apical layer of the dressing increased artificial wound coverage by up to 64%, P = 0.024 in vitro. In vivo evaluation demonstrated that the bilayered dressing construction enhanced overall healing outcomes significantly compared to untreated wounds and that these outcomes were not significantly different from a leading clinically available wound dressing. Collectively, these results demonstrate high potential for this new dressing to effectively accelerate wound healing.
Source: Experimental Biology and Medicine - Category: Research Authors: Magin, C. M., Neale, D. B., Drinker, M. C., Willenberg, B. J., Reddy, S. T., La Perle, K. M., Schultz, G. S., Brennan, A. B. Tags: Original Research Source Type: research