Growth Factors Delivery System for Skin Regeneration: An Advanced Wound Dressing

Standard treatments of chronic skin ulcers based on the direct application of dressings
still present several limits with regard to a complete tissue regeneration. Innovative strategies in
tissue engineering oer materials that can tune cell behavior and promote growth tissue favoring
cell recruitment in the early stages of wound healing. A combination of Alginate (Alg), Sericin
(SS) with Platelet Lysate (PL), as a freeze-dried sponge, is proposed to generate a bioactive wound
dressing to care skin lesions. Biomembranes at dierent composition were tested for the release of
platelet growth factors, cytotoxicity, protective eects against oxidative stress and cell proliferation
induction. The highest level of the growth factors release occurred within 48 h, an optimized time to
burst a healing process in vivo; the presence of SS dierently modulated the release of the factors
by interaction with the proteins composing the biomembranes. Any cytotoxicity was registered,
whereas a capability to protect cells against oxidative stress and induce proliferation was observed
when PL was included in the biomembrane. In a mouse skin lesion model, the biomembranes
with PL promoted the healing process, inducing an accelerated and more pronounced burst of
inflammation, formation of granulation tissue and new collagen deposition, leading to a more rapid
skin regeneration.