Skin wound healing with composite biomembranes loaded by tiopronin or captopril

Abstract

Novel wound dressings composed of chitosan (Ch) and hyaluronan (HA) loaded with tiopronin or captopril as antiinflammatory drugs were prepared. Composite biomembranes were examined in skin wounds of ischemic rabbits with the aim to accelerate the process of healing. The results proved that the biomembranes composed of Ch/HA/tiopronin or Ch/HA/captopril facilitated healing of skin wounds compared to untreated animals and animals treated with Ch/HA membranes. These results were confirmed by histology. Cu(II) ions and ascorbate-induced high-molar-mass HA degradation by means of rotational viscometry was performed and the ability of the both drugs to scavenge reactive oxygen species was evaluated. The results showed that captopril as well as tiopronin decreased the rate of HA degradation exclusively at higher concentrations.

Keywords: Polysaccharides; Reactive oxygen species; Skin wounds; Thiol compounds.