Design of an Oxygen-Delivering Porous Chitosan Scaffold Encapsulated in a Calcium Alginate Hydrogel for Treatment of Hypoxic Wounds

Abstract

Several oxygen-delivering wound dressings have been proposed in recent literature with the aim of improving healing outcomes of chronic wounds. Oxygen generation has been achieved in numerous ways, including the incorporation of peroxide salts and perfluorocarbons (PFCs) to provide oxygen-loading capacity. Here, we have designed a multilayer wound dressing composed of chitosan encapsulated in calcium alginate, incorporating calcium peroxide and PFCs to act as oxygen-generators and oxygen shuttles, respectively. We hypothesize that the combination of oxygen-generating CaO2 and oxygen-carrying PFCs will act synergistically to improve sustained oxygen delivery to the underlying wound and thus improve healing outcomes. Oxygen generation is quantified by fluorescence microscopy using aqueous tris(bipyridine)ruthenium (II) chloride in a closed flow system.