Borosilicate bioactive glass 3D fibrous matrices with increased borate content stimulate healing cascades in chronic wounds
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Diabetic wound regeneration is hindered by dysfunctional extracellular matrix (ECM) formation, impaired angiogenesis and prolonged inflammation. We report the first borosilicate bioactive glass (BG) nanofiber wound matrices with borate content exceeding 2 mol %, achieving up to 70 mol % borate, by optimizing modified sol-gel electrospinning parameters. The resultant 3D matrices mimic the morphology of extracellular matrix fibers with homogeneous fiber diameters of 100–300 nm that can biodegrade with the release of therapeutic calcium ions and borate and silicate species. The focus was investigation of the impact of borate content on cellular response in vitro to identify the optimal borosilicate composition; 55SiO2-30CaO-15B2O3 (mol %, 55S30C15B) matrix promoted the greatest expression of vascular endothelial growth factor and basic fibroblast growth factor by fibroblasts and led to the highest stimulation metabolic activity, protein expression and migration of endothelial cells. Our in vivo study (mouse diabetic model) confirmed the efficacy of 55S30C15B wound matrix in improving wound closure, anti-inflammatory response, angiogenesis, tissue granulation (α-SMA), and collagen deposition, while elaborating the distinct roles of borates and nanofiber structure. All evidence suggests that our matrices exhibit great potential for diabetic wound regeneration.
Date Issued
2025-08-01
Date Acceptance
2025-06-18
Citation
Acta Biomaterialia, 2025, 202, pp.605-621
ISSN
1742-7061
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Start Page
605
End Page
621
Journal / Book Title
Acta Biomaterialia
Volume
202
Copyright Statement
© 2025 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Acta Materialia Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Subjects
Extracellular Matrix
Fibroblasts
Animals
Humans
Mice
Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental
Chronic Disease
Borates
Silicates
Glass
Wound Healing
Male
Nanofibers
Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2025-06-19