title: Dried fruit of the Luffa sponge as a source of chitin for applications as skin substitutes.
abstract: LUFFACHITIN obtained from the residue of the sponge-like dried fruit of Luffa aegyptiaca was developed as a weavable skin substitute in this study. A chemical analysis revealed that LUFFACHITIN was composed of a copolymer containing N-acetyl-glucosamine (~40%) as a major monomer with a filamentary structure as demonstrated by both optical and scanning electron microscopy. The pulp-like white residue of the sponge-like dried fruit of Luffa aegyptiaca after treatment was then woven into a thin, porous membrane by filtration and lyophilization as a skin substitute for conducting wound-healing study on rats. The results indicated that the LUFFACHITIN membrane showed significant wound-healing enhancement (25 days to complete healing) compared to cotton gauze (>30 days), but not inferior to that of SACCHACHITIN. Furthermore, the LUFFACHITIN membrane had advantages of having a high yield, better physical properties for fabrication, and a more attractive appearance.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering and College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 100, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ping-Lun
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2619-5398
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: School of Dentistry, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan ; Ko Da Pharmaceutical Co., Taoyuan 324, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Mei-Yin
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Chien
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan ; Clinical Research Center and Traditional Herbal Medicine Research Center, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei 110, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ming-Thau
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Sheu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering and College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei 100, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yi-You
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Biomedical Materials and Tissue Engineering, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Meng-Hsun
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ching-Hua
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Biomedical Materials and Tissue Engineering, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 110, Taiwan ; Center for General Education, Hsuan Chuang University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Der-Zen
authors.initials: DZ
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002686:Chitin / Q000737:chemistry*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D002855:Chromatography, Thin Layer; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D029776:Luffa / Q000737:chemistry*; D051381:Rats; D017768:Skin, Artificial; D014945:Wound Healing
chemical_list: D002686:Chitin