Researchers have made a significant breakthrough in wound healing by developing a specialized ink that actively promotes the body’s healing process. Published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, the study introduces a wound-healing ink that exposes cuts to immune-system vesicles, stimulating the body’s natural healing response. Using a 3D-printing pen, the ink can be applied to wounds of any shape, and in experiments on mice, it demonstrated the ability to nearly completely repair wounds in just 12 days.

When the skin is injured, the body initiates its natural healing mechanisms, involving the clearance of bacteria, regeneration of blood vessels, and eventual formation of a scar. While various techniques support the body’s healing process, they typically complement its inherent abilities. Bandages and stitches control bleeding, while antibiotics prevent infections. However, by incorporating elements that actively aid the body’s construction crew in wound healing, the process could be accelerated.

The researchers, Dan Li, Xianguang Ding, and Lianhui Wang, aimed to incorporate extracellular vesicles (EVs) from white blood cells, which play crucial roles in promoting blood vessel formation and reducing inflammation during healing. They devised a system called PAINT (portable bioactive ink for tissue healing) using EVs secreted from macrophages combined with sodium alginate. These components were mixed in a 3D-printing pen, which facilitated the formation of a robust gel at the injury site within three minutes.

In tests conducted on human epithelial cells, the EVs in the ink stimulated blood vessel formation and reduced inflammatory markers, guiding the cells into the proliferative growth phase of healing. Additionally, PAINT was applied to injured mice, resulting in enhanced collagen fiber formation. Mice treated with PAINT exhibited nearly complete healing of large wounds within 12 days, surpassing the progress of untreated mice at the same stage of healing. The researchers anticipate that this innovation could revolutionize wound treatment by offering a simple and effective method for expediting healing across a wide range of injuries, eliminating the need for complex procedures.

By Impact Lab