Combined effects of PLGA and vascular endothelial growth factor promote the healing of non-diabetic and diabetic wounds

Growth factor therapies to induce angiogenesis and thereby enhance the blood perfusion, hold tremendous potential to address the shortcomings of current impaired wound care modalities. Vascular endothelial growth factor stimulates (VEGF) wound healing via multiple mechanisms. Poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) supplies lactate that accelerates neovascularization and promotes wound healing. Hence, we hypothesized that the administration of VEGF encapsulated in PLGA nanoparticles (PLGA-VEGF NP) would promote fast healing due to the sustained and combined effects of VEGF and lactate. In a splinted mouse full thickness excision model, compared with untreated, VEGF and PLGA NP, PLGA-VEGF NP treated wounds showed significant granulation tissue formation with higher collagen content, re-epithelialization and angiogenesis. The cellular and molecular studies revealed that PLGA-VEGF NP enhanced the proliferation and migration of keratinocytes and upregulated the expression of VEGFR2 at mRNA level. We demonstrated the combined effects of lactate and VEGF for active healing of non-diabetic and diabetic wounds.publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Combined effects of PLGA and vascular endothelial growth factor promote the healing of non-diabetic and diabetic wounds journaltitle: Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nano.2015.07.006 content_type: article copyright: Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.status: publishe