posted on 2025-02-13, 16:07authored bySatarupa Sarkar, Jay Hind Rajput, Atharva A. Poundarik
Chronic nonhealing ulcers are responsible for considerable
morbidity,
given the increasing prevalence of type II diabetes and other comorbid
conditions that further worsen healing. This study introduced shelf-stable
decellularized and lyopreserved human amnion grafts for treating difficult-to-heal
wounds. The processing approach (comprising a unique combination of
nonionic surfactants and trehalose lyopreservation) applied to develop
these bioscaffolds maximized the retention of sulfated glycosaminoglycans
while enhancing both tensile property and hydrophilicity. Postprocessing,
the tensile properties were found to be similar to human skin (5.33
± 2.45 MPa). Additionally, the surface hydrophilicity of the
lyopreserved grafts was increased. It also exhibited optimum moisture
transmissibility (evaluated as per BS EN 13726–2 standards),
similar to moist wound dressing (1625 ± 375 g/m2/day).
Biochemical attributes including total acid-soluble proteins (481.140
± 14.95 μg/mL) and collagen (9.01 ± 0.15 mg/mL) were
well retained as compared to the fresh membrane. Notably, the sulfated
glycosaminoglycan content of the processed grafts was well conserved
(there was only a 21.14% reduction, which was substantially lower
than the reduction achieved by conventionally used surfactants for
processing biological tissues). The regenerative efficacy of these
bioactive scaffolds was evaluated through preclinical testing in a
diabetic rodent wound model. It showed a 50% reduction in time to
heal compared to the standard of care dressings, supported by increased
vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in the healed
tissues. This can be collectively attributed to the conservation of
sulfated glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) and the enhanced scaffold tensile
quality, which play key roles in promoting angiogenesis, and tissue
regeneration in diabetic wound beds. As a result, these grafts are
well suited for a variety of soft tissue reconstruction applications
and can also serve as bioactive scaffolds for culturing autologous
cells, making them versatile tools in regenerative medicine.