Researchers create a more effective hydrogel to heal wounds

Researchers at the University of New Hampshire have created an injectable, easy-to-make, low-cost hydrogel that could help wounds heal faster, especially in patients with compromising health conditions.

Wound healing can be complex and difficult, especially when a patient is experiencing other health problems that seriously impede the process. Injectable hydrogels are often applied to irregularly shaped wounds, such as diabetic ulcers, to help form a temporary matrix, or structure, to keep the wound stable while the cells regenerate. The caveat is that current hydrogels are not porous enough and do not allow neighboring cells to pass through the wound to help repair it.

"Although valuable to help patients, current hydrogels have limited clinical effectiveness," said Kyung Jae Jeong, assistant professor of chemical engineering at UNH. "We have discovered a simple solution to make hydrogels more porous and thus help accelerate healing."

In the study recently published in the journal of ACS Bio Applied Materials, the researchers describe how they made a macroporous hydrogel by combining readily available gelatin microgels – hydrogels a few hundred microns in diameter – with a cheap enzyme called microbial transglutaminase (mTG). Gelatin has been used because it is a natural protein derived from collagen, a protein found in the connective tissues of the body, such as the skin. The assembly of these tiny microgels with mTG made it possible to create a hydrogel with pores large enough for neighboring cells to move into the wound for repair. In addition, this new injectable formulation allows the slow release of protein drugs facilitating wound healing, such as Platelet-derived Growth Factor (PDGF). The researchers compared conventional nonporous hydrogels with new macroporous hydrogels and found a noticeable increase in tissue cell migration within the hydrogel, characteristic of wound healing.

In addition to diabetic ulcers, the macroporous hydrogel may also help heal the skin, cornea and internal organs during surgery and may even have military consequences.

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More information:
Shujie Hou et al, injectable macroporous hydrogel formed by enzymatic crosslinking of gelatin microgels, ACS Bio Applied Materials (2018). DOI: 10.1021 / acsabm.8b00380