In situ photo-crosslinked hydrogel promotes oral mucosal wound healing through sustained delivery of ginsenoside Rg1

Oral mucosal wounds exhibit an increased susceptibility to inflammation as a consequence of their direct exposure to a diverse range of microorganisms. This causes pain, slow healing, and other complications that interfere with patients' daily activities like eating and speaking. Consequently, patients experience a significant decline in their overall quality of life. Therefore, the pursuit of novel treatment approaches is of great importance. In this study, ginsenoside Rg1, a natural active substance extracted from ginseng root, was chosen as a therapeutic agent. It was encapsulated in a screened photo-crosslinked hydrogel scaffold for the treatment of mucosal defects in the rat palate. The results demonstrated that Rg1-hydrogel possessed excellent physical and chemical properties, and that oral mucosa wounds treated with Rg1-hydrogel exhibited the greatest healing performance, as evidenced by more pronounced wound re-epithelialization, increased collagen deposition, and decreased inflammatory infiltration. Subsequent investigations in molecular biology confirmed that Rg1-hydrogel stimulated the secretion of repair-related factors and inhibited the secretion of inflammatory factors. This study demonstrated that the hydrogel containing ginsenoside Rg1 significantly promotes oral mucosal tissue healing in vivo. Based on the findings, it can be inferred that the Rg1-hydrogel has promising prospects for the therapeutic management of oral mucosal wounds.

miRNA-encapsulated abiotic materials and biovectors for cutaneous and oral wound healing: Biogenesis, mechanisms, and delivery nanocarriers

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) as therapeutic agents have attracted increasing interest in the past decade owing to their significant effectiveness in treating a wide array of ailments. These polymerases II-derived noncoding RNAs act through post-transcriptional controlling of different proteins and their allied pathways. Like other areas of medicine, researchers have utilized miRNAs for managing acute and chronic wounds. The increase in the number of patients suffering from either under-healing or over-healing wound demonstrates the limited efficacy of the current wound healing strategies and dictates the demands for simpler approaches with greater efficacy. Various miRNA can be designed to induce pathway beneficial for wound healing. However, the proper design of miRNA and its delivery system for wound healing applications are still challenging due to their limited stability and intracellular delivery. Therefore, new miRNAs are required to be identified and their delivery strategy needs to be optimized. In this review, we discuss the diverse roles of miRNAs in various stages of wound healing and provide an insight on the most recent findings in the nanotechnology and biomaterials field, which might offer opportunities for the development of new strategies for this chronic condition. We also highlight the advances in biomaterials and delivery systems, emphasizing their challenges and resolutions for miRNA-based wound healing. We further review various biovectors (e.g., adenovirus and lentivirus) and abiotic materials such as organic and inorganic nanomaterials, along with dendrimers and scaffolds, as the delivery systems for miRNA-based wound healing. Finally, challenges and opportunities for translation of miRNA-based strategies into clinical applications are discussed.