Curcumin-releasing chitosan/aloe membrane for skin regeneration

Abstract Wound dressing, primarily used to protect skin lesions, has recently evolved into advanced biomaterial-based membranes that support or induce skin regeneration. Here, we fabricated a chitosan/aloe film that provides a sustaining release of curcumin for promoting wound healing and skin regeneration. Uniform embedding of curcumin-encapsulated poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) microspheres in the chitosan/aloe membrane were achieved with a high-power ultrasonic emulsification and a tape-casting process. The micro-structural, physicochemical and mechanical properties of the composite film were examined by SEM, XRD, ATR-FTIR and tensile tests. The biocompatibility of the composite film was tested with NIH-3T3 cells culture in vitro. Then the composite film is implanted in a full-thickness skin wound model in Wistar rats. The implantation of curcumin-releasing film led to the accelerated would healing and promoted skin tissue regeneration as compared to the untreated control and the film without curcumin. In addition, sustain-released curcumin likely shows effect on restraining inflammation and cicatrices. Our findings demonstrate that the chitosan/aloe film with controlled delivery of curcumin promotes the intrinsic regeneration of skin tissues.