Plasma-engineered chitosan couples red-light bioenergetics to diabetic wound regeneration through programmable...

Area of Science:

• Biomaterials Engineering
• Regenerative Medicine
• Photobiology

Background:

• Diabetic wounds exhibit non-healing characteristics due to oxidative stress, impaired energy metabolism, and chronic inflammation.
• Current treatments often struggle to address the complex multifactorial nature of diabetic wound healing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a photobioactive dressing using cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) engineered chitosan-microalgae (CS-CHL) for enhanced diabetic wound repair.
• To investigate the mechanism by which CAP treatment and 660-nm light activation promote wound healing.

Main Methods:

• Chitosan-microalgae composite dressing fabrication via CAP engineering.
• Characterization of CAP-modified chitosan using FTIR, XRD, and NMR.
• Assessment of photochemical and bioenergetic outputs under 660-nm light irradiation.
• Evaluation of wound closure and tissue repair in a streptozotocin-induced diabetic wound model.

Main Results:

• CAP treatment at 30 seconds optimized chitosan microenvironment for enhanced microalgal coupling and photobioactivity.
• The CS-CHL dressing with 660-nm light significantly accelerated wound closure compared to controls.
• Mechanistic studies revealed reduced oxidative stress, suppressed inflammation, enhanced angiogenesis, and restored mitochondrial function in treated wounds.

Conclusions:

• CAP-engineered chitosan-microalgae dressings represent a promising platform for light-assisted diabetic wound management.
• This approach effectively reprograms microalgal photobioenergetics to combat the non-healing phenotype of diabetic wounds.
• The dressing promotes a pro-regenerative environment by modulating key cellular pathways involved in healing and inflammation control.