Ultrashort Peptide Nanofibrous Hydrogels for the Acceleration of Healing of Burn Wounds

The study from 2014 investigated ultrashort peptide hydrogels as a treatment for partial thickness burn wounds and found that they significantly outperformed the standard-of-care dressing, Mepitel®, in a rat model. The hydrogels, which mimic the extracellular matrix, are non-immunogenic, non-cytotoxic, and can entrap up to 99.9% water by weight. They facilitated earlier autolytic debridement and promoted tissue regeneration without the need for exogenous growth factors. By day 14, the hydrogels achieved 86.2% and 92.9% wound closure, compared to 62.8% with Mepitel®, and showed a cytokine profile similar to healthy skin, indicating a reduced inflammatory response. The study concluded that these peptide hydrogels could potentially improve clinical outcomes for burn wound dressings by accelerating wound closure and reducing the risks of hypertrophic scar formation and infection. The number of subjects or wounds treated was not specified in the summary.