Background:The Functional electrospun membrane was a promising strategy to promote wound healing, however, the microstructure and drug loading of the membranes still need further improvement. Here, we designed a novel mesh-like electrospun fibrous loaded with atorvastatin and investigated the effect on the paracrine secretion of BMSCs and wound healing.
Methods:We fabricated a mesh-like electrospun membrane by using the copper mesh receiver. Physical properties of the membranes were characterized with Scanning Electron Microscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, Tensile Strength Analysis and Contrast Angle Test. The drug Release was measured with a concentration curve of certain times. In vitro, we tested the effect of conditioned-medium (CM) from BMSCs on the migration and pro-angiogenic function of endothelial cells and used the real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to investigate the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (b-FGF) genes in BMSCs. Furthermore, a wound model of rat was established, the atorvastatin loaded mesh-like membranes (PCL/MAT) seeded with BMSCs were used as artificial skin to evaluate the wound-healing efficiency.
Results:The Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy reveals the successful loading of atorvastatin in mesh-like membranes (PCL/MAT). Compared with the random electrospun fibrous (PCL/R) and the mesh-like electruspun fibrous without drug-loading (PCL/M), PCL/MAT has the strongest effect on the migration of HUVECs. The scratches were almost closed after 24h of cell migration in the PCL/MAT group, whereas the scratches maintained a distance for the other groups. The effect of the PCL/MAT group was significant on the pro-angiogenic function of endothelial cells with obviously higher tube length than those of the other groups. And all above corresponding to the increased VEGF and b-FGF gene expression of BMSC in the RT-PCR. In vivo, PCL/MAT seeded with BMSCs significantly accelerated the speed of healing, improved the neovascularization and collagen reconstruction in the wound area compared with the other groups.
Conclusions:Mesh-like topography of fibrous scaffolds with atorvastatin releasing can provide unique microenvironment that benefiting paracrine of BMSCs and migration and pro-angiogenic function of endothelial cells, thus accelerating wound healing. It's a novel strategy to design electrospun membranes for wound treatment