Nanofiber-Based Wound Healing Materials

Abstract

Chronic and acute wounds affect over 40 million patients globally, imposing an estimated USD 50 billion annual healthcare burden. Electrospun nanofiber scaffolds mimic the architecture of the native extracellular matrix (ECM), providing high surface-area-to-volume ratio, tuneable porosity, and sustained bioactive agent delivery -- properties ideally suited for advanced wound dressings. This study developed and compared four electrospun nanofiber wound dressing formulations -- polycaprolactone/gelatin (PCL/Gel), silk fibroin/polyethylene oxide (SF/PEO), polylactic acid/chitosan (PLA/CS), and a core-shell PCL-core/gelatin-shell loaded with epidermal growth factor (EGF-CS) -- evaluating fibre morphology, mechanical properties, moisture vapour transmission, in vitro biocompatibility, and in vivo wound healing efficacy in a full-thickness excisional wound model in Sprague-Dawley rats (n = 10/group). The EGF-loaded core-shell nanofibers achieved the highest wound closure rate at day 14 (92.4 +- 4.8% vs 78.4 +- 6.2% for PCL/Gel and 64.2 + 8.4% for gauze control; p < 0.001), with sustained EGF release over 21 days (cumulative 84.6 +- 6.8 ng/cm2) and significantly enhanced re-epithelialisation thickness (142 +- 18 µm vs 84 +- 14 µm for PCL/Gel). PLA/CS nanofibers demonstrated the strongest intrinsic antimicrobial activity (98.4% inhibition of S. aureus and E. coli) attributable to chitosan's cationic charge disrupting bacterial membranes. These results establish core-shell EGF-loaded nanofibers as the most efficacious wound healing platform and PLA/CS as the preferred antimicrobial nanofiber dressing