Shikonin delivery strategy through alkali-crosslinked polyvinyl alcohol hydrogel promotes effective wound healing

Effective wound healing is one of the most concerning health issues worldwide. Adding traditional Chinese herbal ingredients into functional hydrogel materials may be an efficient strategy to promote wound healing. In this study, Shikonin (SHK) was simply introduced into polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hydrogel to construct SHK/PVA composite hydrogel through alkali crosslinking method. SHK/PVA hydrogel could not only improve cell adhesion and proliferation, but also significantly increase collagen deposition, enhance angiogenesis and reduce inflammatory response, and finally accelerate wound healing in rat skin defect models. Findings from this study indicated that the introduction of SHK would be a crucial candidate for wound healing. Therefore, SHK/PVA hydrogel is expected to provide a new choice for clinical repair and regeneration of acute and chronic wounds.