Discipline: Biological Sciences
Subcategory: Nanoscience
Terrell Hilliard - Alabama State University
Co-Author(s): Rajnish Sahu, Saurabh Dixit, Atul Chaudhari, Komal Vig, and Shreekumar Pillai, Alabama State University, Montgomery, AL
Wound healing is a natural process but there still remains major public health issues because burns/deep tissue damages either fail to, or slowly regenerate. Autografts are preferred for skin regeneration but at times are insufficient for severe cases. Skin graft substitutes are now providing significant improvement over traditional allografts and keratinocytes play an important role by proliferating and differentiating to restore the barrier and allowing re-epithelialization. We have encapsulated biomaterials within poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticle and shown it’s non-toxic to eukaryotic cells in vitro and in vivo. Additionally we have shown that naringenin, a naturally occurring polyphenolic compound is non-toxic to cells and has anti-inflammatory properties. Here, we propose to develop a 3D wound healing model using natural polymers. Our 3D model includes a pre-established COCA cell line derived from the epidermis of mice, PLGA as the extracellular matrix to support structure stability and flexibility, and collagen for binding between the polymer and keratinocytes. PLGA is biocompatible and biodegradable and lactate (a component in PLGA) promotes wound healing and vascularization. We are also incorporating reduced Glutathione (GSH), naringenin and N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) all known for cellular health to enhance the healing process. Our future studies include development of an in vitro wound model and application of the 3D skin substitute to reduce healing by continuous growth and differentiation. The release of biomaterials from PLGA will provide continuous benefits to the cells for regeneration. Our developed 3D polymeric skin model will be efficacious in accelerating wound healing and deep tissue damages.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): This work was supported by funding from NSFCREST (HRD-1241701). Contact, ssingh@alasu.edu
Faculty Advisor: Vida Dennis, vdennis@alasu.edu
Role: All of it.