(43e) Nanostructured Biomaterials for Healing Chronic Wounds

The wound healing process is an intricate integration of overlapping events involving a multitude of cells, cytokines, and extracellular matrix components. In healthy individuals, this process is generally carried out to completion, resulting in timely wound resolution. However, elderly individuals and those suffering from diseases such as obesity and diabetes display an increased risk of disruption in this process, resulting in non-healing chronic wounds. While growth factor therapy has demonstrated a limited ability to promote chronic wound healing, the current therapeutic modalities do not accurately recreate the natural wound healing process. Here, I will discuss the development new therapeutic dressings that more accurately recreate the dynamic signaling observed in vivo. By using layer-by-layer technology, I will demonstrate the ability to modulate the temporal delivery of multiple growth factors that have been implicated in wound healing. Results show that these new dressings retain the biological activity of incorporated growth factors both in vitro and in vivo and impact multiple wound healing processes in a chronic wound mouse model of type-2 diabetes.