Ultrasound-Mediated EGF-Coated-Microbubble Cavitation in Dressings for Wound-Healing Applications

The feasibility of ultrasound (US) controlled cavitation for transdermal drug delivery (TDD) using gas-filled microbubbles (MBs) has been explored. However, liquid or gel-type MBs is not easy used for TDD. The present study investigated a new treatment model for evaluating the US-mediated liquid-type epidermal growth factor (EGF)-coated lysozyme microbubble (LYMB) cavitation in a wound dressing for enhancing wound healing. The maximum loading efficacy of EGF onto LYMBs was 19.40 ± 0.04%. In terms of the in vitro treatment efficacy, the growth of Staphylococcus aureus was inhibited by 97.50 ± 1.50% in the group with LYMBs exposed to 3 W/cm(2) US. During 21 days in vivo wound healing experiments, the recovery rate during the first 6 days was significant higher in the group with EGF-LYMB dressings and US exposure (day 6: 54.28 ± 3.26%) than in the control group (day 6: 26.36 ± 3.34%) (p < 0.05). Our results show that the new model can significantly reduce the treatment duration during wound healing.