Synthesis of copper bearing borosilicate glass for soft tissue wound healing

To date, various wound dressings have been developed to increase the ability of healing and to recover the functions of wounded tissues. A complicated series of signaling pathways participate during the main phases of wound healing, i.e. hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling. The ions at the injury site could induce pathways either directly or indirectly; however, they must be presented slowly otherwise they would saturate the microenvironment and cause toxicity. Boron and copper ions upregulate cell recruitment, proliferation, and angiogenesis at the injury site. In this study, the synthesis of a biodegradable and slow-releasing copper-borosilicate glass via conventional melt casting and sol-gel was compared. In contrast to the melt casting-derived sample, the sol-gel glass exhibited a more regulated ion release. Thus it was selected as the optimized sample and was loaded into a gelatin-based wound dressing. In an in vivo study, after 15 days of dressing and compared to untreated models, a remarkable epidermal layer was regenerated on the wound area in the test group.