This study aimed to investigate the effect of bioactive glasses on cutaneous wound healing in both normal rats and
streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Bioactive glass
ointments, prepared by mixing the
sol-gel bioactive glass 58S (SGBG-58S), nanobioactive glass (NBG-58S) and the melt-derived 45S5 bioactive glass (45S5)
powder with
Vaseline (V) at 18% weight percentage, were used to heal full thickness excision
wounds. Pure V was used as control in this study. Compared to SGBG-58S, NBG-58S consists of relatively dispersible nanoparticles with smaller size. The analysis of wound healing rate and wound healing time showed that bioactive glasses promoted wound healing. The
ointments containing SGBG-58S and NBG-58S healed the
wounds more quickly and efficiently than the
ointment containing 45S5. Histological examination indicated that bioactive glasses promoted the proliferation of fibroblasts and growth of granulation tissue. Immunohistochemical staining showed that the production of two
growth factors,
VEGF and
FGF2, which are beneficial to wound healing, was also stimulated during the healing process. Transmission electron microscope observations showed that fibroblasts in
wounds treated with bioactive glasses contained more rough endoplasmic reticula and had formed new capillary microvessels by the seventh day. The effects of SGBG-58S and NBG-58S were better than those of 45S5. All results suggest that bioactive glasses, especially SGBG-58S and NBG-58S, can accelerate the recovery of skin
wounds in both normal and diabetes-impaired healing models and have a great potential for use in
wound repair in the future.