Small Molecular TGF-β1 Inhibitor Loaded Electrospun Fibrous Scaffolds for Preventing Hypertrophic Scars.

Hypertrophic scarring (HS) is a disorder that occurs during wound healing and seriously depresses the quality of human life. The scar-inhibiting scaffolds, though bring promise to HS prevention, face problems such as the incompatibility of the scaffold materials and instability of bioactive molecules. Herein, we present a TGF-β1 inhibitor-doped poly (ε-caprolactone)(PCL)/gelatin (PG) co-electrospun nanofibrous scaffold (PGT) for HS prevention during wound healing. The appropriate ratio of PCL to gelatin can avoid individual defects of the two materials and achieve optimized mechanical property and biocompatibility. The TGF-β1 inhibitor (SB-525334) is a small molecule and is highly stable during electrospinning and drug release processes. The PGT effectively inhibits fibroblast (major cell type contributing to scar formation) proliferation in vitro and successfully prevents HS formation during the healing of full-thickness model wounds on rabbit ear. Our strategy offers an excellent solution for potential large-scale production of scaffolds for clinical HS prevention.