Hair follicles stimulation effects of gelatin nanofibers containing silver nanoparticles

In the present work we studied gelatin nanofibers containing silver nanoparticles of 14 +/- 6 nm mean diameter, prepared by electrospinning. The electrospinnable solution was obtained by drop-wise adding a AgNO3/acetic acid solution to gelatin which had previously been dissolved in a mixture of formic acid and acetic acid. The silver metallic nanoparticles were formed due to the reducing action of the formic acid. The resulted material was characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Subcutaneous implants in rabbits demonstrated that the gelatin nanofibers containing silver nanoparticles were resorbed with no inflammatory reactions. An increased number of secondary hair follicles developed in tissue regions close to implants, suggesting the existence of a stimulation effect of silver nanoparticles on hair follicles.