Fibroblasts/three-dimensional scaffolds complexes promote wound healing in rats with skin defects

ABSTRACT

We aim to construct a three-dimensional nano-skin scaffold material in vitro and study its promoting effect on wound healing in vivo. In this study, hybrid constructs of three-dimensional (3D) scaffolds were successfully fabricated by combination of type I collagen (COL-1) and polylactic-glycolic acid (PLGA). Fibroblasts and human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (hUCMSCs) were used to implanted into 3D scaffolds and constructed into SD skin scaffolds in vitro. Finally, the fibroblasts/scaffolds complexes were inoculated on the surface of rat wound skin to study the promoting effect of the complex on wound healing. In our study, we successfully built a 3D scaffold, which had a certain porosity. Meanwhile, the content of COL-1 in the cell supernatant of fibroblast/scaffold complexes was increased. Furthermore, the expression of F-actin, CD105, integrin β, VEGF, and COL-1 was up-regulated in hUCMSC/scaffold complexes compared with the control group. In vivo, fibroblast/scaffold complexes promoted wound healing in rats. Our data suggested that the collagen Ⅳ and vimentin were elevated and collagen fibers were neatly arranged in the fibroblast/scaffold complex group was significantly higher than that in the scaffold group. Taken together, fibroblast/scaffold complexes were expected to be novel materials for treating skin defects.

KEYWORDS:

• Fabrication
• human umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells
• skin wound healing
• three-dimensional scaffolds

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

Ting Jiang and Ze-Long Yang conceived and designed the experiments. Ting Jiang, Qiang Liu, Er-Chang Xu, Si-Yu He, and Hong-Yan Liu performed the experiments. Ting Jiang, Qiang Liu, Er-Chang Xu, Chao Tian, and Lan-Fang Zhang analyzed the data. Ze-Long Yang contributed to the reagents and materials. Ting Jiang wrote the manuscript.

Data availability statement

The datasets used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China Youth Foud [81301568], and the Fund of Nanchong science and Technology [20SXQT0323].