Effect of Poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate‐co‐3‐hydroxyvalerate) Nanofiber Matrices Cocultured With Hair Follicular Epithelial and Dermal Cells for Biological Wound Dressing

Abstract:  We tested the effects on the early‐stage wound healing of poly(3‐hydroxybutyrate‐co‐3‐hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) nanofiber matrices cultured with hair follicular cells. PHBV only, PHBV/collagen, and PHBV/gelatin at a 7/3 weight ratio were produced by electrospinning, and their in vitro cell culture and in vivo wound healing as biological dressings were examined. In cell attachment and growth on matrices, dermal sheath (DS) cells attached to hydrophilic PHBV/collagen and PHBV/gelatin faster than hydrophobic PHBV at the early incubation stage (up to 6 h). From 6‐ to 24‐h incubation, PHBV/collagen showed the best results in cell culture. Furthermore, PHBV/collagen cocultured for 3–5 days with DS and epithelial outer root sheath (ORS) cells expressed more extracellular materials, such as type I collagen, elastin, and α‐smooth muscle actin, than cocultured PHBV with the same cells. However, there was no significant difference between PHBV and PHBV/collagen in the amounts of cytokeratin 8 expressed. Grafting of PHBV and PHBV/collagen matrices cocultured with ORS/DS cells for 3–5 days showed that PHBV promoted wound closure and re‐epithelization more obviously than PHBV/collagen in both cocultured matrices and matrices alone. Cocultured matrices would heal wounds better than the corresponding matrices alone. Thus, PHBV cocultured with ORS/DS cells could be used as a cell‐seeded biological dressing, thereby reducing preparation time as well as regenerating the epidermis efficiently during the early stage of wound healing.