The Effect of Cartilage and Bacteria-derived Glycoproteins as a Biological Dressing on Wound Healing

Immediate intervention with minimal side effects is the most significant factor in the enhancement of wound healing. However, a majority of drugs used for this purpose are chemical-based containing various compounds, such as sulfite, which sometimes causes allergic reactions in a number of patients, or anti-inflammatory agents that cause elevated blood sugar and weight gain. Hence, many researchers look for natural compounds, such as glycoproteins, not only to reduce the side effects but also to improve the speed of healing. In this study, we have created a natural biological dressing using the combination of extracellular matrix (ECM) derived from articular cartilage and DH5α bacterial ghost (BG). Both articular cartilage and BG contain high amounts of collagen and glycoproteins, and proteoglycans, respectively. The experimental wound on the rabbit pinna was treated by the biological dressing. Then microbial, scanning electron microscopy and microscopic analyses measured the wound healing parameters, including the number of fibroblast cells, the collagen contents, percentage of wound closure, and the number of colonies. The results confirmed ECM (OC), BG (OG) and their mixture (OGC) groups have better effects than control groups. Histological parameters, such as number of fibroblast cells and the amount of collagen fibers, represented a greater degree of wound healing in OGC group compared with OC, OG, and control groups. Our findings proved that ECM and bacterial ghost effectively increased the rate of wound healing. The mixture of ECM and BG provides a biological dressing that could be used in wound repair in the future.