Evaluation of Cell Growth Characteristics on Chitosan-Alginate Membranes to Assess Their Potential Application on Highly Exuding Skin Lesions and In Vivo Evaluation in Wounded Cat

Abstract

Chitosan and alginate are non-toxic, biocompatible and biodegradable polysaccharides, used in skin healing. High biocompatibility, ease of production and low cost have increased the interest in the use of both compounds in medical and pharmaceutical sectors, as components of wound dressings. The purpose of this work was to access the use of chitosan and chitosan-alginate membranes for highly exudating wounds, as the ones normally observed in cats, employing Vero cell culture as an initial evaluation step. The achieved results show that the chitosan-alginate membranes stimulated cell proliferation, but not cell adhesion, whereas improving tridimentional growth with the formation of aggregates. Cell concentration both at 24 and 48 h were similar to those observed in the control samples, however, at the 72-h period, the average number of cells was lower than those in the controls. The in vivo performance evaluation of the membranes indicated that they were effective on protecting the wound from external microbial contamination, also stimulating tissue recovery. The lesion was totally healed after 30 days.