Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-29T07:44:39.306Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Various Forms of Crosslinked Dextran Gel as Surface Wound Covering Materials

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2011

Paul Y. Wang*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Chemical Biology, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Canada M5S 1A8
Get access

Abstract

Dextran and its crosslinked beads have many biomedical applications. If stirring to maintain the epichlorohydrin emulsion is stopped in about 7 minutes, crosslinked dextran gel sheets can be prepared. The elastic sheet obtained after washing in water, followed by treatment with propylene glycol containing 15% isopropanol is suitable as a covering on rodent skin wound. Antibacterial agents can be dispersed into the sheet or admixed in the paste form of the gel.

In standard tests, a 4 cm × 4 cm surface wound on the back of a 400-g Wistar rat was covered with the dextran gel material. The evaporation loss was found to reduce immediately from 94 mg H20/cm2/hr to 1/2 of this value which became 12.5 mg H20/cm2hr in 18 hours. Such a covered wound healed in 10–17 days with 10–15% distortion, while the controls were delayed to 25 ± 7 days with >65% wound contraction.

Another modification of the gel material involves the surface attachment of the positively charged 2-diethylaminoethyl function (DEAE). Although up to 2.41 mM DEAE groups/g gel can be introduced, only <10% is on the gel surface. Tests with mouse 3T3 fibroblists showed 5 that it was possible to increase the cell binding from 9 × 103 to 2 × 105 cells/cm2. Therefore, the gel material may have potential as a substrate for dermal cells as well for later transfer.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. Yannas, I.V., Burke, J.F., Orgill, D.P., and Skrabut, E.M., Science 215, 174 (1982).Google Scholar
2. Bell, E., et al. J. Invest. Derm. 81, 2s (1983).Google Scholar
3. Jacobsson, S., Jonsson, L., Rank, F., and Rothman, V., Scand. J. Plast. Reconstr. Surg. 10, 97 (1976).Google Scholar
4. Smith, M.A. and Vale, W.W., Endocrinology 108, 752 (1981).Google Scholar
5. Wang, P.Y., Evans, D.W., Samji, N., and Llewellyn-Thomas, E., J. Surg. Res. 28, 182 (1980).Google Scholar
6. Levine, D.W., Wang, D.I.C., and Thilly, W.G., Biotech. Bioeng. 21, 821 (1979).Google Scholar
7. Wang, P.Y., Clin. Materials 2, 91 (1987).Google Scholar