Cerium Oxide Nanoparticle-Loaded Gelatin Methacryloyl Hydrogel Wound-Healing Patch with Free Radical Scavenging Activity

Nonhealing wounds in diabetic patients are a critical challenge, which often cause amputation and mortality. High levels of oxidative stress and aberrations in antioxidant defense mechanisms increase the adverse manifestations of diabetes mellitus. In this study, we developed a biodegradable gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) hydrogel patch incorporated with cerium oxide nanoparticles (CONPs) for promoting diabetic wound healing. The patches were thoroughly characterized for the morphology, physicomechanical properties, free radical scavenging activity, in vitro cell proliferation, and in vivo diabetic wound healing activity. Highly porous and biodegradable patches showed excellent exudate uptake capacity as evident from the many-fold weight gain (400–700 times) when placed in aqueous medium. Results of free radical scavenging assays clearly indicated that the patches loaded with 1–4% w/w CONPs could effectively inactivate experimentally generated free radicals. Obtained results of in vitro cell culture studies clearly indicated that CONP-incorporated patches could favor the proliferation of skin-associated cells such as keratinocytes and fibroblasts. Results of the wound healing study showed that 1% w/w CONP-loaded patches could effectively improve the healing of wounds in diabetic rats. Overall results indicate that CONP-loaded GelMA hydrogels are highly promising materials for developing clinically relevant patches for treating diabetic wounds.