Tight orchestration of wound healing phase through metal-organic compounds

Cutaneous wound healing remains a common health problem. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as an advanced therapeutic platform for promoted wound healing. However, there is a lack of MOF particles possessing excellent stability, biocompatibility, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging ability for tight orchestration of wound healing. Herein, we synthetize therapeutic MOF particles named PgC₃Zn and employ them as skin sprays for wound repair. At the inflammatory stage, the pH- and ROS-responsive Zn²⁺ release of PgC₃Zn alleviates oxidative stress and exerts antibacterial and anti-inflammatory efficacy. During the proliferation stage, PgC₃Zn promote the migration and proliferation of fibroblasts, the re-epithelialization of keratinocytes, and the angiogenesis of endothelial cells. During the remodeling stage, PgC₃Zn effectively facilitate the wound closure and collagen deposition. Moreover, multiple endogenous growth factors have been identified to contribute to the wound healing process. Importantly, PgC₃Zn exhibit excellent biocompatibility and remarkably accelerate the healing process in both acute and infected rat full-thickness skin wound models in vivo. Consistently, transcriptomic data illustrate the multi-stage and multi-functional regulation effects of PgC₃Zn in promoting wound healing. This study proposes versatile and biocompatible PgC₃Zn MOF particles with potentials for enhancing the management of acute and infected skin wounds.