Enrichment of Carbopol Gel by Natural Peptide and Clay for Improving the Burn Wound Repair Process Publisher



Sorouri F^{1, 2} ; Azimzadeh Asiabi P³ ; Hosseini P² ; Ramazani A³ ; Kiani S² ; Akbari T⁴ ; Sharifzadeh M⁵ ; Shakoori M¹ ; Foroumadi A⁶ ; Firoozpour L⁶ ; Amin M⁷ ; Khoobi M^{1, 8, 9} Show Affiliations
Source: Polymer Bulletin Published:2023

Abstract

Providing an appropriate treatment to accelerate wound healing after a burn is a challenging problem. Therefore, finding advanced and cost-effective products reducing the recovery time is essential. This study aimed to introduce a simple strategy for the preparation of a multifunctional dressing bearing natural-based materials for the treatment of burn wounds. Carbopol (Carb) gel was loaded with carnosine-enriched bentonite (CEB), and the wound healing potential was evaluated using a rat burn wound model. The acceptable physicochemical properties of Carb-CEB gel provided an appropriate media for improved fibroblast cell adhesion, migration, survival, and growth compared to the Carb gel alone. Furthermore, ferric reducing antioxidant potential (FRAP) assay revealed superior antioxidant activity of Carb-CEB than Carb (*P ≤ 0.05). Macroscopically, the wound healing rates of Carb and Carb-CEB were approximately 84 and 95%, respectively, confirming the significant role of CEB in accelerating the wound closure. Histological evaluation also showed better epithelialization, angiogenesis, and reduction in inflammatory cells in the rats treated with Carb-CEB compared to the controls. In Carb-CEB-treated wounds, the regenerated epidermis was thicker and the number of blood vessels increased significantly. Overall, in vitro and in vivo studies suggested that Carb-CEB could be introduced as a promising wound dressing for further study of wound healing. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.] © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.