Metal-organic frameworks, called MOFs, are crystalline porous materials constructed by repeating metal clusters and organic linkers thus having permanent porosity. The structure and characters of MOF libraries have been widely reported and some MOFs have been applied to the wound healing process by using the porosity to release drugs, gases, and metal ions promoting the wound healing process. However, there is no case of using MOF itself to get rid of the overproduced inflammatory agents in the wound healing process.<br/>In the wound healing process, the important mediators that lead to inflammation and scar formation are nitric oxide, cytokines, and reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, the overproduction of these inflammatory agents causes abnormal inflammation and excessive scarring, so it is challenging to control adequate amounts of mediators to complete wound healing with barely scarred.<br/>In this study, MOF was introduced to suppress the excess nitric oxide, cytokines, and ROS, that based on their MOF’s own structure such as micropores, surface, and catalytic activities. we systemically devised and applied a MOF hybrid hydrogel that optimizes the wound healing performance by removing excess immune mediators with MOF as well as simultaneously supplying moisture and uniformly applying MOF by hydrogel matrix. After the removal of excess mediators was experimentally analyzed based on MOF chemistry, the wound healing process of MOF was analyzed through cell-derived substances, and finally applied the MOF to animal testing for a real actual wounded environment. It was confirmed that the wound recovered rapidly within 14 days after the introduction of MOF-hydrogel, which showed that the system incorporating MOF is effective in wound healing.

Chemistry of metal-organic frameworks in wound healing

ACS Fall 2021

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