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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Vet. Sci.
Sec. Veterinary Regenerative Medicine
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1491385
This article is part of the Research Topic Advances in Veterinary Tissue Engineering: Unlocking Potential with Cell-Free and Cell-Based Methods View all 4 articles

Sea Food By-Products Valorization for Biomedical Applications: Evaluation of Wound Regeneration in an Ex vivo Skin Model

Provisionally accepted
Giulia Zivelonghi Giulia Zivelonghi 1Luca Melotti Luca Melotti 1*Anna Carolo Anna Carolo 1Andrea Venerando Andrea Venerando 2Margherita Roncoroni Margherita Roncoroni 3Giordana Martinelli Giordana Martinelli 3Lisa Maccatrozzo Lisa Maccatrozzo 1Stefania Marzorati Stefania Marzorati 3Michela Sugni Michela Sugni 3Marco Patruno Marco Patruno 1
  • 1 Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food, School of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Padua, Legnaro, Veneto, Italy
  • 2 Department of agrifood, environmental and animal sciences, University of Udine, Udine, Italy
  • 3 Department of Environmental Science and Policy, University of Milan, Milan, Lombardy, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The skin is often exposed to harmful stimuli that might compromise its integrity and functionality. After an injury, the skin has a limited capability to restore its complex structure, and in the case of severe skin damage, surgical operations and rapid application of wound dressings are often required to promote optimal wound healing. Nowadays, collagen-based biomaterials are widely used in combination with bioactive molecules able to prevent excessive inflammation and possible infections. In line with a circular economy and blue biotechnology approach, it was recently demonstrated that both collagen and bioactive molecules (i.e., antioxidant compounds) can be sustainably obtained from sea food by-products and effectively used for biomaterial development. Herein, we describe and compare the application of two marine collagen-based wound dressings (CBWDs), produced with materials obtained from sea urchin food waste, for the treatment of skin lesions in a wound healing organ culture (WHOC) model. The ex vivo WHOC model was set up starting from rat skin explants and the induced lesions were assigned into three different groups: control (CTRL) group, not treated, marine collagen wound dressing (MCWD) group, and antioxidants-enriched marine collagen wound dressing (A-MCWD) group. After 5 and 10 days, specimens were examined for organ maintenance and assessed for the healing process. Immunohistochemical results showed that both CBWDs were similarly successful in prolonging skin repair, preserving the epidermal barrier up to 5 days under static culture conditions. Histological and gene expression analysis highlighted that the A-MCWD supports and accelerates skin wound healing by exerting antioxidant activity and counteracting inflammation. Overall, these findings underline the potential of sea urchin food waste as a novel resource for the development of functional medical devices for the treatment of skin wounds.

    Keywords: Wound Healing, Skin, collagen-based wound dressing, Ex vivo organ culture, innovative therapies, Circular economy, Regenerative Medicine, Antioxidants

    Received: 04 Sep 2024; Accepted: 22 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Zivelonghi, Melotti, Carolo, Venerando, Roncoroni, Martinelli, Maccatrozzo, Marzorati, Sugni and Patruno. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Luca Melotti, Department of Comparative Biomedicine and Food, School of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Padua, Legnaro, 35020, Veneto, Italy

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.