Doxycycline Loaded Collagen-Chitosan Composite Scaffold for the Accelerated Healing of Diabetic Wounds

One major complication of diabetes mellitus is diabetic wounds (DW). The prolonged phase of inflammation in diabetes obstructs the further stages of an injury leading to delayed wound healing. We selected doxycycline (DOX), as a potential drug of choice, due to its anti-bacterial properties along with its reported anti-inflammatory properties. The current study aims to formulate DOX loaded collagen-chitosan non-crosslinked (NCL) & crosslinked (CL) scaffolds and evaluate their healing ability in diabetic conditions. The characterization result of scaffolds reveals that the DOX-CL scaffold holds ideal porosity, a low swelling & degradation rate, and a sustained release of DOX compared to the DOX-NCL scaffold. The in vitro studies reveal that the DOX-CL scaffold was biocompatible and enhanced cell growth compared with CL scaffold treated and control groups. The anti-bacterial studies have shown that the DOX-CL scaffold was more effective than the CL scaffold against the most common bacteria found in DW. Using the streptozotocin and high-fat diet-induced DW model, a significantly (p≤0.05) faster rate of wound contraction in the DOX-CL scaffold treated group was observed compared to those in CL scaffold treated and control groups. The use of the DOX-CL scaffold can prove to be a promising approach for local treatment for DWs.