Nanocurcumin and arginine entrapped injectable chitosan hydrogel for restoration of hypoxia induced endothelial dysfunction

Wondrous Yellow Molecule: Are Hydrogels a Successful Strategy to Overcome the Limitations of Curcumin?

Curcumin is a natural compound with a great pharmaceutical potential that involves anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and neuroprotective activity. Unfortunately, its low bioavailability, instability, and poor water solubility significantly deteriorate its clinical use. Many attempts have been made to overcome this issue, and encapsulating curcumin in a hydrogel matrix may improve those properties. Hydrogel formulation is used in many drug delivery forms, including classic types and novel forms such as self-assembly systems or responsive to external factors. Reviewed studies confirmed better properties of hydrogel-stabilized curcumin in comparison to pure compound. The main enhanced characteristics were chemical stability, bioavailability, and water solubility, which enabled these systems to be tested for various diseases. These formulations were evaluated for wound healing properties, effectiveness in treating skin diseases, and anticancer and regenerative activity. Hydrogel formulation significantly improved biopharmaceutical properties, opening the opportunity to finally see curcumin as a clinically approved substance and unravel its therapeutic potential.

Injectable thermogel incorporating reactive oxygen species scavenger and nitric oxide donor to accelerate the healing process of diabetic wounds

The healing of diabetic wounds is challenging due to redox imbalances. Herein, the thermogelling system AR-ACP hydrogel, with encapsulated biosafe nitric oxide (NO) donor L-arginine and resveratrol as an ROS scavenger, is established for sustainable wound therapy in the diabetic state. The innovated AR-ACP hydrogel dressings shows the sol-gel transition at 34 °C, allowing the hydrogel to fully cover wounds. The combination of L-arginine and resveratrol showed a prominent effect on anti-oxidative activity. The elimination of superoxide anions from the activated immune cells/oxidative cells by resveratrol maintained the NO-proangiogenic factors generated from L-arginine. Furthermore, the AR-ACP hydrogel endowed outstanding features such as haemocompatibility, non-skin irradiation as well as antibacterial activity. In the in vivo diabetic mice model, complete epidermal regeneration comparable to undamaged skin was observed with AR-ACP hydrogel. The synergy between L-arginine and resveratrol in the ACP hydrogel facilitated neovascularisation in the early stage, resulting in the higher balance in cellularity growth and collagen deposition in the dermal layer compared to control groups. Taken together, our findings demonstrate that the use of a customised ACP-based hydrogel, with the additional L-arginine and resveratrol, resulted in significant skin regeneration in the diabetic state.

Antimicrobial and Regenerative Effects of Placental Multipotent Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Secretome-Based Chitosan Gel on Infected Burns in Rats

Background: There is a need for better strategies to promote burn wound healing and prevent infection. The aim of our study was to develop an easy-to-use placental multipotent mesenchymal stromal cell (MMSC) secretome-based chitosan hydrogel (MSC-Ch-gel) and estimate its antimicrobial and regenerative activity in Staphylococcus aureus-infected burn wounds in rats. Methods: Proteomic studies of the MMSC secretome revealed proteins involved in regeneration, angiogenesis, and defence responses. The MMSC secretome was collected from cultured cells and mixed with water-soluble chitosan to prepare the placental MSC-Ch-gel, which was stored in liquid phase at 4 °C. The wounds of rats with established II-IIIa-degree burns were then infected with S. aureus and externally covered with the MSC-Ch-gel. Three additional rat groups were treated with medical Vaseline oil, the antiseptic drug Miramistin®, or the drug Bepanthen® Plus. Skin wound samples were collected 4 and 8 days after burning for further microbiological and histological analysis. Blood samples were also collected for biochemical analysis. Results: Application of the MSC-Ch-gel cleared the wound of microorganisms (S. aureus wasn’t detected in the washings from the burned areas), decreased inflammation, enhanced re-epithelialisation, and promoted the formation of well-vascularised granulation tissue. Conclusions: MSC-Ch-gel effectively promotes infected wound healing in rats with third-degree burns. Gel preparation can be easily implemented into clinical practice.

Antiseptic chitosan bandage for preventing topical skin infections

Infections on the wound surface are the major problem in restricting the healing process. To reduce the transmission and treat the infection, we have developed 0.05% and 0.1% octenidine dihydrochloride (Ocd) incorporated chitosan (Cs) based flexible bandages. Ocd is extensively used skin antiseptic for its mode of action over a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity. The prepared antiseptic Cs-Ocd bandage was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). In addition, swelling, degradation, cytocompability, antibacterial, and anti-biofilm property of the developed bandages were studied. This highly porous nature of Cs-Ocd bandage showed enhanced swelling property, slow degradation profile and controlled release of Ocd. The prepared antiseptic bandage exhibited synergistic effect showing good hemostatic potential with Cs, excellent antimicrobial and anti-biofilm activity with Ocd against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Candida auris (C. auris). Thus, the developed Cs-Ocd bandage can be used as potential antiseptic bandage for skin infections.

Prospection of chitosan and its derivatives in wound healing: Proof of patent analysis (2010-2020)

Disruption in the normal anatomy and physiology of the skin often leads to wound formation. Its healing is a pretty complex and dynamic biological process with different phases. While there are many biopolymers (and their derivatives) for wound healing purposes. One of the most popular, promising, progressive and attention-grabbing biopolymers is 'chitosan'. It is a polysaccharide biopolymer that has tremendous potential in augmenting the process of wound healing. Most importantly, the derivatives of chitosan have heavily attracted the scientific community's attention to employing them in various formulations for wound healing applications. The prime focus of the present review is to provide scientific and technological prospection about chitosan and its derivatives for wound healing activity, starting from 2010 to 2020. Besides, the review also focuses about toxicity, different formulations and products of chitosan that are currently under clinical trials for wound healing purposes are described. Through this review, we present evidence that abundantly confirms that there is a growing interest in the domain of wound healing using novel, inventive, useful and patent protected chitosan derivatives. We speculate the possibility of more patent protected chitosan derivatives in the future for wound healing applications.