Affiliation:
1. Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering North Carolina State University/University of North Carolina‐Chapel Hill Raleigh North Carolina USA
2. Comparative Medicine Institute North Carolina State University Raleigh North Carolina USA
3. Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering North Carolina State University Raleigh North Carolina USA
Abstract
AbstractReactive oxygen species (ROS) play a critical and important role during wound healing but excess ROS at the wound site can lead to cellular damage and sub‐optimal healing. Minimizing oxidative damage to the wound site and any supplemental therapeutic cells can be achieved by delivering exogenous antioxidants. Collagen hydrogels are ideal wound care materials due to their biocompatibility, high water content, and porous, three‐dimensional architecture. Yet, they lack the inherent antioxidant activity that could help mitigate excess ROS at a wound site. This work formulates and evaluates the in vitro biocompatibility and antioxidant capabilities of collagen‐fibroblast hydrogels combined with the polyphenolic antioxidant luteolin. Collagen solutions mixed with luteolin readily assembled into robust hydrogels with increasing gel strength due to increasing concentrations of luteolin. SEM images confirmed a mean pore size of 2.2 μm and a drastically different macromolecular ultrastructure with extensive fine crosslinking relative to collagen. Adequate cell viability and metabolic activity of dermal fibroblasts cultured within the gels were measured across all formulations, resulting in higher antioxidant activity and more than double the protection to cells from oxidative damage than traditional collagen hydrogels. Given these results, luteolin‐collagen hydrogels demonstrate the potential for superior wound‐healing properties when compared to collagen alone.
Funder
North Carolina State University
Subject
Biomedical Engineering,Biomaterials