Dr Mostafiz Rahman^1,2, Dr Nicole Garcia^1,2, Dr Celine Loh³, Dr Denese Marks^3,6, Dr Ilia  Banakh^1,2, Ms Premlatha  Jagadeesan⁴, Dr Neil  Cameron⁴, Dr Chen  Yung-Chih⁵, Ms Marylia  Costa³, Dr Heather  Cleland^1,2, Dr Shiva  Akbarzadeh^1,2

¹Skin Bioengineering Laboratory, Victorian Adult Burns Service, Alfred Health, Melbourne, Australia, ²Department of Surgery, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, ³Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, Alexandria, Australia, ⁴Material Materials Science and Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Australia, ⁵Atherothrombosis and Vascular, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Melbourne, NSW, ⁶Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia

Abstract:

Platelets are a reservoir of growth factors, cytokines and chemokines involved in spontaneous wound repair. In this study, a novel platelet-rich and fibrin-rich hydrogel was generated from expired platelet components that would otherwise have been transfused. The material contained physiological concentrations of transforming growth factor β1 (TGF-β1, platelet-derived growth factor AB (PDGF-AB), PDGF-BB, insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2), and epidermal growth factor (EGF). The effect of the hydrogel on wound repair was investigated in SKH-1 mice. Full thickness dorsal wounds were created on the mice and treated with the hydrogel at various concentrations. Immunohistochemical staining with CD31 (endothelial cell marker) revealed that wounds treated with the hydrogel showed significantly enhanced vascularisation in the wound bed. Moreover, low levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and KC (IL-8 homologue) in treated wounds were sustained over a longer period of time, compared to untreated wounds. We postulate that sustained IL-6 is a driver, at least partly, of enhanced vascularisation in full thickness wounds treated with the hydrogel. Future work is needed to explore whether this novel hydrogel can be utilised as a treatment option when vascularisation is a critical limitation.

Biography:

I am Dr Mostafiz Rahman, working as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at The Department of Surgery, Alfred Health. My research focus on to explore a novel platelet-derived hydrogel from clinically expired apheresis platelets for the treatment of massive burn wound.