Wound healing with alginate/chitosan hydrogel containing hesperidin in rat model

Skin damages have always been considered as one of the most common physical injuries. Therefore, many researches have been conducted to find an efficient method for wound healing. Since hydrogels have suitable characteristics, they are widely used for this purpose. In this study, based on the high efficiency of alginate and chitosan hydrogels in the wound healing, different concentrations of hesperidin were loaded to alginate and chitosan hydrogels followed by evaluating their morphology, swelling properties, release, weight loss, hemo- and cytocompatibility, antibacterial and toxicity properties. Finally, the therapeutic function of the prepared hydrogels was evaluated in the full-thickness dermal wound in a rat model. Our results indicated that the hydrogels have appropriate porosity (91.2 ± 5.33%) with the interconnected pores. Biodegradability of the prepared hydrogel was confirmed with weight loss assessment (almost 80% after 14 days). Moreover, the time-kill assay showed the antibacterial properties of hydrogels, and MTT assay revealed the positive effect of hydrogels on cell proliferation, and they have no toxicity effect on cells. Also, the in vivo results indicated that the prepared hydrogels had better wound closure than the gauze-treated wound (the control group), and the highest wound closure percentage was observed for the alginate/chitosan/10% hesperidin group. All in all, this study shows that alginate/chitosan hydrogels loaded with 10% of hesperidin can be used to treat skin injuries in humans.