Effects of Carboxymethyl-Chitosan on Wound Healing in vivo and in vitro

Effects of carboxymethyl-chitosan with different molecular weights on wound healing were investigated in vivo and in vitro.A second degree burn model was performed in rats and the accelerative effects of carboxymethyl-chitosan on wound repair were observed.Contents of transforming growth factor（TGF）-β1,interleukin（IL）-6 and matrix metalloproteinase（MMP）-1 in wounds were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay（ELISA）.In vitro study evaluated the influence of carboxy-methyl-chitosan on cytokines secretion of fibroblasts and macrophages.In vivo results showed that carboxymethyl-chitosan effec-tively accelerated the wound healing process in burned rats（P0.05）.Levels of TGF-β1,IL-6 and MMP-1 in carboxymethyl-chitosan groups were significantly elevated,compared with control group（P0.05）.In vitro results indicated that carboxymethyl-chitosan significantly promoted the proliferation of fibroblasts and stimulated its IL-8 and IL-10 secretion at different incubation time,but it did not affect collagen secretion of fibroblasts.Carboxymethyl-chitosan enhanced phagocytosis ability of macrophages,and in-creased its tumor necrosis factor（TNF）-α secretion.In conclusion,carboxymethyl-chitosan promoted wound healing by activating macrophages,accelerating fibroblasts growth and exerting considerable effects on the secretion of a series of cytokines.