The excessive
inflammation, oxidative stress, and impaired angiogenesis are major factors leading to difficulties in chronic wound healing. To develop bioactive materials with intrinsic
antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, we prepared
hydrogels for the first time using
paramylon secreted by Euglena gracilis which is a
polysaccharide has been approved by FDA as
food additive. Results showed that the
paramylon hydrogel has favourable anti-inflammatory effects and the ability to scavenge
reactive oxygen species (ROS) through
free radical destruction, deoxygenation, and
singlet oxygen quenching, and inhibit ROS production by chelating the
metal ions required for the formation of ROS. We found that the
paramylon hydrogel could effectively reduce
wound inflammation and promote angiogenesis to facilitate
wound repair. Furthermore, for the first time, we found that
paramylon hydrogel could promote the formation of blood vessels via the HIF-1α-VEGF pathway. These results indicated that the highly bioactive
paramylon could be the preferred material for wound healing.