A Promising Wound Dressing Based on Alginate Hydrogels Containing Vitamin D3 Cross-Linked by Calcium Carbonate/D-Glucono-Δ-Lactone Publisher



Ehterami A¹ ; Salehi M^{2, 3} ; Farzamfar S⁴ ; Samadian H⁵ ; Vaez A⁶ ; Sahrapeyma H⁷ ; Ghorbani S^{8, 9}
Source: Biomedical Engineering Letters Published:2020

Abstract

In the present study, we fabricated vitamin D3-loaded alginate hydrogel and assessed its wound healing capability in the animal model. The various concentrations of vitamin D3 were added to the pre-dissolved sodium alginate in deionized water and cross-linked by calcium carbonate in combination with d-glucono-δ-lactone. The microstructure, swelling behavior, weight loss, hemo- and cytocompatibility of the fabricated hydrogels were evaluated. In the last stage, the therapeutic efficacy of the prepared hydrogels was evaluated in the full-thickness dermal wound model. The scanning electron microscopy images showed that the prepared hydrogel was highly porous with the porosity of 89.2 ± 12.5% and contained the interconnected pores. Weight loss assessment showed that the prepared hydrogel is biodegradable with the weight loss percentage of about 89% in 14 days. The results showed that the prepared hydrogels were hemo- and cytocompatible. The animal study results implied that alginate hydrogel/3000 IU vitamin D3 group exhibited the highest wound closure present which was statistically significant than the control group (p < 0.05). Moreover, the histological examinations revealed that hydrogel containing 3000 IU vitamin D3 had the best performance and induced the highest re-epithelialization and granular tissue formation. All in all, this study suggests that alginate hydrogels with 3000 IU vitamin D3 can be exploited as a potential wound dressing in skin tissue engineering. © 2020, Korean Society of Medical and Biological Engineering.