Aerogel-hydrogel biphase gels based on physically crosslinked β-lactoglobulin fibrils/polyvinyl alcohol for skin wound dressings: In vitro and in vivo characterization
Min Gong, Huanhuan Shi, Zuquan Hu, Fang Wang, Meiling Dong, Ronghua Lei, Zhu Zeng, Yun Wang, Jin Chen
Abstract
Rapid and effective skin wound healing is still a challenge in clinical practice. Introducing a new kind of protein-based natural polymers to develop aerogel-hydrogel biphase gel (AHB-gel) dressings with the dual advantages of aerogel and hydrogel is a promising strategy for wound dressing design. In this work, AHB-gel dressings based on β-lactoglobulin fibrils (BLGFs) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) were successfully prepared. First, micrometer-long and relatively stable BLGFs were prepared by heating β-lactoglobulin monomers (BLGMs) at pH 2.0. Then, a repeated freeze-thawing process was applied to promote the physical crosslinking between BLGFs and PVA. Finally, a lyophilization process was used to obtain the AHB-gel dressings. It has been demonstrated that the incorporation of BLGFs endowed the AHB-gel dressings with microporous structures and improved the performances of the AHB-gel dressings, including properties of interacting with liquid, the maintenance of softness, and the in vitro biocompatibility. In addition, the animal experiments confirmed that the AHB-gel dressings can boost wound healing. Overall, the outcomes revealed that BLGFs are a kind of natural polymers with enormous potential for tissue engineering applications and the AHB-gel is a promising form of wound dressings. Moreover, the manufacturing method used in this work is facile and efficient, which is suitable for large-scale production.