The skin is the largest organ of the human body. Wounds disrupt the functions of the skin and can have catastrophic consequences for an individual resulting in significant morbidity and mortality. Wound infections are common and can substantially delay healing and can result in non-healing wounds and sepsis. Early diagnosis and treatment of infection reduce risk of complications and support wound healing. Methods for monitoring of wound pH can facilitate early detection of infection. Here we show a novel strategy for integrating pH sensing capabilities in state-of-the-art hydrogel-based wound dressings fabricated from bacterial nanocellulose (BC). A high surface area material was developed by self-assembly of mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) in BC. By encapsulating a pH-responsive dye in the MSNs, wound dressings for continuous pH sensing with spatiotemporal resolution were developed. The pH responsive BC-based nanocomposites demonstrated excellent wound dressing properties, with respect to conformability, mechanical properties, and water vapor transmission rate. In addition to facilitating rapid colorimetric assessment of wound pH, this strategy for generating functional BC-MSN nanocomposites can be further be adapted for encapsulation and release of bioactive compounds for treatment of hard-to-heal wounds, enabling development of novel wound care materials.

Cell therapy is one of the most promising areas within regenerative medicine. However, its full potential is limited by the rapid loss of introduced therapeutic cells before their full effects can be exploited, due in part to anoikis, and in part to the adverse environments often found within the pathologic tissues that the cells have been grafted into. Encapsulation of individual cells has been proposed as a means of increasing cell viability. In this study, we developed a facile, high throughput method for creating temperature responsive microcapsules comprising agarose, gelatin and fibrinogen for delivery and subsequent controlled release of cells. We verified the hypothesis that composite capsules combining agarose and gelatin, which possess different phase transition temperatures from solid to liquid, facilitated the destabilization of the capsules for cell release. Cell encapsulation and controlled release was demonstrated using human fibroblasts as model cells, as well as a therapeutically relevant cell line—human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). While such temperature responsive cell microcapsules promise effective, controlled release of potential therapeutic cells at physiological temperatures, further work will be needed to augment the composition of the microcapsules and optimize the numbers of cells per capsule prior to clinical evaluation.