Use of embryonic fibroblasts associated with graphene quantum dots for burn wound healing in Wistar rats

Burn is one of the common wounds in the world and using modern methods such as cell therapy can be considered as an effective strategy in the treatment of these wounds. The aim of this study is investigating the effects of using graphene quantum dots (GQDs) associated fibroblasts on treating third-degree burns in Wistar rats. In this experiment, cells were obtained by isolating fibroblasts from 13-day embryos of Wistar rats. MTT assay was performed to determine the dose of nanoparticle and cell tracker. For this study, 40 Wistar rats were burned and randomly divided into two groups of control and treatment. The treatment group was divided into three groups of daily injection of GQD nanoparticle with a concentration of 100 μg/ml, cell therapy, and cell therapy + GQDs. On days 20 and 40, skin tissue sections were prepared and stained with hematoxylin–eosin (H&E) and trichrome Masson for microscopic examination. Macroscopic and microscopic observations showed that in the treatment groups, the recovery was higher than the control. Also, cell therapy and GQD injection and simultaneous injection of cell therapy + GQDs accelerated the wound healing process and the cell therapy + GQDs were significantly more effective than nanoparticles and cell injection alone after 20 and 40 days. Histological studies indicated a significant increase in angiogenesis, number of cells, collagen synthesis, thickness of skin layers, and ultimately acceleration wound healing in treatment samples compared to controls. Based on these results, it can be concluded that simultaneous cell therapy and GQDs accelerate the repair of skin lesions in the animal models more significantly.