Anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antioxidative bioactive glass-based nanofibrous dressing enables scarless wound healing

Excessive scar tissue formation along with bacterial infection, hemorrhage, and oxidative wound microenvironment pose adverse physiological and psychological effects on patients, which necessitate the advent of innovative anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and anti-oxidative multifunctional wound dressings. The overarching objective of this study was to exploit bioactive glass (BG) and a natural anti-bacterial component namely "oregano essential oil (OEO)" to impart multifunctionality to poly(L-lactide-co-glycolide)/Gelatin (PLGA/Gel)-based nanofibrous dressings for excisional wound management. We performed a series of structural, morphological, and release studies as well as delineated angiogenic, hemostatic, anti-bacterial, and anti-oxidative properties of these bioactive dressings in vitro, which altogether revealed the beneficial effects of BG and OEO in terms of rapid hemostasis, improved chemotactic response, diminished bacterial colonization, and anti-inflammatory response. Impressively, in multiple injury models, including a rat tail-amputation model, an ear artery injury model, and a liver trauma model in rabbit in vivo, we reported BG-mediated rapid hemostasis. Moreover, dressings containing BG showed improved hemocompatibility and suppressed coagulation as revealed by activated partial thromboplastin assay (APTT) in vitro. In addition, the transplantation of these nanofibrous dressings in a full-thickness excisional wound model in rats showed significant tissue regeneration as evidenced by the more number of blood vessels, glands, and hair follicles, re-epithelialization, diminished inflammatory response, and less fibrotic tissue formation. Taken together our approach of simultaneously harnessing economical BG and OEO to enable multifunctionality to nanofibrous dressings for tissue repair may hold great promise for wound healing as well as other bio-related disciplines.