POLYSACCHARIDES BASED NANOFIBROUS SCAFFOLDS FOR WOUND HEALING

The aging of society and related chronic diseases will predominate in the near future, increasing the costs of health care.

Chronic diseases such as diabetes and cancer are associated with chronic wounds. In addition, surgery and burns often lead to injuries that are difficult to heal. The proposed and patented platform develops nanofibrous scaffolds entirely based on polysaccharides as skin substitutes to achieve healing of such lesions.

The developed scaffolds are based on glycosaminoglycan (chondroitin sulfate or hyaluronic acid) associated to chitosan, pullulan in presence of citric acid and electrospun starting from an aqueous/acetic polymeric solution. The nanofibrous membranes are crosslinked by sterilized heating.

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In scientific literature, there are many works that have electrospinning as their topic with the aim of preparing “scaffolds” suitable for skin repair. Chitosan is one of the most widely used polymers and also described for this purpose. However, there are no examples of “scaffolds” totally prepared starting from mixtures of hydrosolubile cationic and anionic polysaccharide polymers, capable of forming a poly-electrolytic complex, and electrospun in the absence of organic solvents.

The invention makes it possible to obtain insoluble nanofibers from aqueous polymeric solutions in the absence of toxic organic solvents, avoiding solvent residues in the preparation and allowing an “environmentally friendly” process.

Solvent residues can also adversely affect the interaction with the cells that should proliferate on the membrane.

Another novelty of the invention consists in the possibility of associating polymers with different ionic natures (cationic chitosan and anionic glycosaminoglycans) and being able to electrospin the resulting solution being able to exploit the bioactive properties of all components in the treatment of lesions.

This invention could be exploited in the treatment of the following injuries:

• Diabetic foot;
• Venous and / or arterial lesions of the lower limbs;
• Pressure ulcers;
• Extensive burns.

Developed products could be registered as:

Medical devices:

– Dermal substitutes (class iii) (systems able to promote the healing of injuries of various kinds as “scaffold”)

– Advanced dressings also loaded with antimicrobials (class iia or iib) (eg silver).

Pharmaceutical:

Therapeutic systems loaded with antimicrobial drugs for promoting healing of acute or chronic infected injuries

• Use of poorly immunogenic polysaccharide materials;
• Production without toxic solvents (water / acetic acid);
• Ease of sterilization (moist heat with standard cycle);
• Storage at room temperature in the dry state;
• Ease of sizing;
• Reduced production cost.