GelMA/AgNWs Hydrogel Combined with Electrical Stimulation Effectively Promotes Skin Wound Healing

Silver nanowire-dopedmethacrylated gelatin (GelMA/AgNWs) conductive hydrogel was prepared to combinewith exogenous electrical stimulation (ES) to enhance the rate and quality ofskin wound healing. The influence of the hydrogel's conductivity, and the electrodes position, as well as the terminal voltage on the distribution of the electricfield coupled within the wound tissue, was studied by COMSOL, and in vivofull-skin damaged wound healing experiments were performed to evaluate thehealing efficiency. The results show that the hydrogel's conductivity andterminal voltage modulated the strength of the exogenous electric field inwound tissues, while electrode placement governed its spatial distribution. Underthe condition that electric field strength within the wound area maintained tobe 100 mV m-1, the wound healing was significantly accelerated byactivating signaling mediators to adjust the expression of such cytokines astumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), andplatelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule (CD31), as well as PI3K/AKT andERK1/2 pathways. The integration of GelMA/AgNWs with ES in mode 2 achieved animpressive wound closure rate of 99.5% by the 10th day post-injury.vs.