Novel H₂S Releasing Nanofibrous Coating for In Vivo Dermal Wound Regeneration

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), together with nitric oxide and carbon monoxide, has been recognized as an important gasotransmitter. It plays an essential physiological role in regulating cyto-protective signal process, and H₂S-based therapy is considered as the next generation of promising therapeutic strategies for many biomedical applications, such as the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Through electrospinning of polycaprolactone (PCL) containing JK1, a novel pH-controllable H₂S donor, nanofibers with H₂S releasing function, PCL-JK1, are fabricated. This fibrous scaffold showed a pH-dependent H₂S releasing behavior, i.e., lower pH induced greater and faster H₂S release. In addition, the H₂S release of JK1 was prolonged by the fibrous matrix as shown by decreased releasing rates compared to JK1 in solutions. In addition, in vitro studies indicated that PCL-JK1 exhibited excellent cyto-compatibility, similar to PCL fibers. Finally, we investigated PCL-JK1 as a wound dressing toward a cutaneous wound model in vivo and found that PCL-JK1 could significantly enhance the wound repair and regeneration compared with the control PCL scaffold, likely due to the release of H₂S, which results in a broad range of physiologically protective functions toward the wound.