Ulvan-Based Nanofibrous Patches Enhance Wound Healing of Skin Trauma Resulting from Cryosurgical Treatment of Keloids

Abstract

Keloids are skin fibroproliferative disorders, resulting from abnormal healing of deep cutaneous injuries. Cryosurgery, the most common treatment for keloids, causes skin traumas. Even though the clinical practice of cryosurgery has increased, effective wound healing therapy is still lacking. In this investigation, nonwoven nanofibrous patches composed of ulvan, a marine sulfated polysaccharide exhibiting anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities, and polyethylene oxide (PEO) were fabricated through electrospinning and characterized. Their wound healing efficacy on skin traumas resulting from cryosurgical treatment of keloids was clinically tested and evaluated in comparison to a reference product. Twenty-four volunteer patients undergoing cryosurgery as a treatment of keloids were selected to apply either the ulvan/PEO patch or the reference product for 21 days. The ulvan/PEO patch, 21 days after cryosurgery, showed significant wound healing, elimination of skin inflammation, restoration of biophysical parameters similar to normal values and significant decrease in haemoglobin concentration, skin texture and volume, while no discomfort or adverse reaction was observed. In contrast, the reference product showed inferior performance in all evaluated parameters. The designed ulvan/PEO patch represents the first wound dressing to effectively heal skin trauma after cryosurgical treatment of keloids.

Functions and values of sulfated polysaccharides from seaweed

“…They play pivotal roles in marine ecosystems, including coastal areas and coral reefs. Ulvans are the major SPs isolated from green seahttp://e-algae.org Araújo et al 2016), and U. rigida (Kikionis et al 2022) have solidified their potential in the pharmaceutical industry as a target agent against oxidative stress and inflammation-related conditions. Kidgell et al (2020) reported the immunomodulatory potential of ulvan isolated from U. ohnoi.…”

Poly(vinyl alcohol)/ulvan electrospun nanofibers thermallycrosslinked to produce a water stable biomaterial

“…During a chemical crosslinking, some polysaccharide functional groups may be compromised, thus limiting its versatility of use to different degrees. It is worth to mention that hydroxyl, carboxyl and sulfate have been mentioned as important groups during the functionalizing process (Schiffman & Schauer, 2008;Ma et al, 2015;Carvalho et al, 2018;Cunha & Grenha, 2016) of different polysaccharide-based materials, for applications as filters to remove cationic dyes and heavy metal ions (Ma et al, 2015;Li et al, 2020) carriers for selective drug delivery (Saravanakumar et al, 2012;Alves et al, 2012), and wound dressing (Tziveleka et al, 2018;Terezaki et al, 2022;Kikionis et al, 2022).…”

“…Nanofibers can be produced by different methods, among which the electrospinning technique has been highlighted due to its low cost, simple fashion and relatively high production rate (Schiffman & Schauer, 2008;Ramakrishna et al, 2006;Barnes et al, 2007). This technique has been used for the development of algal polysaccharide-based nanofibers showing interesting characteristics from a biotechnological point of view (Vigani et al, 2018;Toskas et al, 2011;Terezaki et al, 2022;Shen & Hsieh, 2014;Madany et al, 2021;Kikionis et al, 2022;Daemi et al, 2018). As a prominent representative of polysaccharides obtained from seaweeds, ulvan appears as a water soluble sulfated polysaccharide that exhibits a unique chemical structure characterized by numerous charged groups, which has been associated with interesting properties, such as: anticoagulant, antithrombotic, cancer preventive, anti-inflammatory, antihyperlipidemic, antioxidant, and heavy metals chelation (Webster et al, 1997;Tziveleka et al, 2019;Terezaki et al, 2022;Jesus Raposo et al, 2015;Carvalho et al, 2018;Cunha & Grenha, 2016).…”

“…ulvan) represents a real challenge that has been deeply discussed in the review of Mejía Agüero et al (2022). Consequently, the production of ulvan-based nanofibers using the electrospinning technique, emerges as an alternative that has been barely explored in the literature (Toskas et al, 2011;Terezaki et al, 2022;Madany et al, 2021;Kikionis et al, 2015Kikionis et al, , 2022Hwang et al, 2023). To face the drawback associated with the low stability in aqueous media, some methods of crosslinking have been used to prevent dispersion of these materials in aqueous medium (Shen & Hsieh, 2014;Panzavolta et al, 2011;Morelli & Chiellini, 2010;Daemi et al, 2018;Alves et al, 2012).…”

Development of Bi- and Tri-Layer Nanofibrous Membranes Based on the Sulfated Polysaccharide Carrageenan for Periodontal Tissue Regeneration

“…In the framework of our research investigations towards the development of marine biopolymer-based scaffolds for wound healing and tissue engineering applications [49,[55][56][57][58][59][60], we have focused on the development of carrageenan-based GTR nanofibrous membranes for the treatment of periodontitis and bone loss. Bi-and tri-layer nanofibrous GTR membranes based on carrageenan and other biocompatible polymers were designed, fabricated, and evaluated for their efficacy in periodontal tissue regeneration.…”