A low-cost injectable hydrogel that could help wounds heal faster

Wound healing can be tough and challenging, especially when a patient has other health obstacles that seriously can delay the process. Often injectable hydrogels are applied to irregular shaped wounds, like diabetic ulcers to form a temporary matrix to keep the wound stable while cells undergoes repair and rejuvenation. The condition is that current hydrogels are not porous enough and do not allow neighboring cells to pass through toward the wound to help it repair. A specific solution was discovered to make hydrogels more porous which can help heal the wound faster. 

The researchers made a macroporous hydrogel by combining readily available gelatin microgels. The hydrogels that are a few hundred microns in diameter with an inexpensive enzyme named microbial transglutaminase (mTG). Gelatin is a natural protein derived from collagen, a protein found in connective tissue in the body such as skin. Assembling these microgels incorporates with mTG helped create a hydrogel with large pores for the neighboring cells to move into the wound for their repair and Regeneration. In addition to this, new injectable formulation permit the slow release of protein drugs to aid wound healing faster, such as Platelet-derived Growth Factor (PDGF). The researchers compared conventional nonporous hydrogels with the new macroporous hydrogels and found a notable increase in the migration of tissue cells inside the hydrogel, which is the hallmark of wound healing.

Along with diabetic ulcers the macroporous hydrogel could help with other forms of healing on the skin, internal organs during surgery, cornea and having millions of applications.