In Vitro Cell Plasma Membrane Resealing Model to Study Cell Salvage Effect of Concentrated Surfactant Gels

Background: For wound healing and tissue reparation/regeneration after skin injury, it is important to rapidly reseal ruptured cell plasma membrane and resume the structural integrity of the plasma membrane to maintain homeostasis and protect intracellular organelles in fibroblasts.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to test and verify whether concentrated surfactant gels have the ability to reseal cell membranes to avoid further accumulation of cellular damage due to loss of lipid bilayer integrity to speed up wound healing.

Methods: In this study, cell monolayers of mouse fibroblast cell line L929 and primary adult human dermal fibroblasts (HDFa) on glass coverslips were scratched with a sterile 22-gauge needle with # shapes followed by adding quickly 1 ml 0.5% of a concentrated surfactant gel preserved with antimicrobials (CSG), a concentrated surfactant gel loaded with PHMB (CSG-PHMB) and a benzalkonium chloride loaded gel (BCG). The plasma membrane integrity was analyzed qualitatively by Live/Dead fluorescence microscopy and quantitatively by a lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release assay. F-actin depolymerization and re-assembly were microscopically analysed by confocal laser microscopy after F-actin fluorescent staining.

Results: The results showed that compared to other wound dressing gels without surfactants, concentrated surfactant based gels (CSG and CSG-PHMB) decreased LDH in the supernatant and resisted F-actin rearrangement for both L929 and HDFa. These results implied that concentrated surfactant based gels (CSG and CSG-PHMB) may have cell salvage ability by rapidly resealing the ruptured plasma membrane.

Conclusion: The mechanisms of action of the cell salvage affect of concentrated surfactant based gels and its ability to salvage damaged cells needs further investigation.