Artificial dermis composed of gelatin, hyaluronic acid and (1→3),(1→6)-β-glucan

Abstract

Porous scaffolds composed of gelatin and polysaccharides such as hyaluronic acid and β-glucan were prepared by using the freeze-drying method after cross-linking with 1-ethyl-(3-3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide hydrochloride (EDC). The scaffold had an inter-connected pore structure with the sufficient pore size for use as a support for the growth of fibroblasts. Results for the contact angle and cell attachment confirmed that high gelatin content in a mixture was suitable for cellular attachment and distribution in two-or three-dimensional fibroblast cultures. However, the addition of polysaccharides aroused the synergistic effects of morphologic and mechanical property of gelatin-based scaffolds. To prepare the artificial dermis for the wound dressing to mimic the normal human dermal skin, fibroblasts were isolated from a childs foreskin, and cultured in gelatin-based scaffolds. An in vivo study showed that the artificial dermis containing the fibroblasts enhanced the wound healing rate and re-epithelialization of a full-thickness skin defect rather than the acellular scaffold after one week.

Fabrication of gelatin–hyaluronic acid hybrid scaffolds with tunable porous structures for soft tissue engineering

“…HA was also demonstrated to have an important role in promoting the penetration of cells into scaffolds due to its high water-holding capacity and intrinsic swelling property in biological media [7]. As a consequence, HA and its derivatives have been extensively explored as scaffolding materials for a variety of tissue engineering applications including skin [8][9][10], cartilage [11][12][13], bone [14], ligament [15], brain [16], and nerve [17,18]. However, the glucuronic acid residues of HA contain a carboxyl group which is negatively charged at physiological pH and ionic strength.…”

Natural Products: A Minefield of Biomaterials

“…It is characterized by having no antigenicity in comparison to its precursor. Gelatin is widely used as scaffold for tissue engineering and also has been frequently used in medicine as a wound dressing, and as an adhesive, absorbent pad for surgical use [77,78].…”

“…Injectable collagen is widely used for the augmentation or buildup of dermal tissue for cosmetic reasons. In particular, collagen and its degradation products are often used for the attraction of fibroblasts in vivo during wound repair, fracture healing, and embryogenesis [16,78,79].…”

“…HA consists of 2-acetamide-2-deoxy-α-D-glucose and β-D-gluconic acid residues linked by alternate (1,3) and (1,4) glycoside bonding and has the high capacity of lubrication, water sorption, and water retention, and influences several cellular functions such as migration, adhesion, and proliferation. HA is water-soluble, and must be cross-linked or otherwise modified to form a scaffold [71,78]. It is an extremely attractive polymer material because it is a natural product that degrades into simple sugars.…”

“…A company in Italy is reported to have developed a series of modified hyaluronate esters by adding hydrophobic moieties to the carboxyl groups so as to control degradation, and it is marked as tissue engineering polymers which are being applied to bone growth and cartilage [71]. An investigation concluded that the artificial dermal skin is composed of gelatine and polysaccharides such that hydraluronic acid and β-glucan will be useful to promote wound healing [78]. While a combination of flexible protein and rigid polysaccharide results in a series of biomimetic chitosan/gelatine based biomaterials covering surface modifier and nonviral vector for gene therapy.…”