Preclinical Evaluation of Tegaderm Supported Nanofibrous Wound Matrix Dressing on Porcine Wound Healing Model

Objective: Nanofibers for tissue scaffolding and wound dressings hold great potential in realizing enhanced healing of wounds in comparison with conventional counterparts. Previously, we demonstrated good fibroblast adherence and growth on a newly developed scaffold, Tegaderm™-Nanofiber (TG-NF), made from poly ɛ-caprolactone (PCL)/gelatin nanofibers electrospun onto Tegaderm (TG). The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance and safety of TG-NF dressings in partial-thickness wound in a pig healing model. Approach: To evaluate the rate of reepithelialization, control TG, human dermal fibroblast-seeded TG-NF(+) and -unseeded TG-NF(−) were randomly dressed onto 80 partial-thickness burns created on four female and four male pigs. Wound inspections and dressings were done after burns on day 7, 14, 21, and 28. On day 28, full-thickness biopsies were taken for histopathological evaluation by Masson-Trichrome staining for collagen and hematoxylin–eosin staining for cell counting. Results: No infectio...