Light-induced nitric oxide release from donor-functionalized human dermal matrix hydrogel

Marcelo Baruffi – Professor and Co-Advisor, Universidade de Sao Paulo; Renata Lopez – Professor and Advisor, Universidade de Sao Paulo; Francisco Neto – PostDoc, Universidade de Sao Paulo; Lilian Rodrigues – Technologist, Universidade de Sao Paulo

Introduction:

Chronic wounds often remain trapped in inflammation, with infection, poor angiogenesis, defective remodeling, and frequent recurrence. Biomimetic extracellular matrix (ECM) scaffolds preserve tissue hierarchy and instructive cues. Pairing matricellular signals such as galectin-3 with controlled nitric oxide (NO) delivery may reprogram the niche toward vascularization and coordinated repair. Therefore, a decellularized human skin–derived ECM hydrogel functionalized with silk fibroin–GSNO was engineered and characterized to enable tunable mechanics and light-triggered NO release.