Development of chitosan/glycerophosphate/collagen thermo-sensitive hydrogel for endoscopic treatment of mucosectomy-induced ulcer.

Endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) is a useful tool for the treatment of early gastric neoplasms, however post-ESD bleeding and perforation restrict its widespread application. In this study, we developed the chitosan/β-glycerophosphate/collagen (CS/GP/Col) thermo-sensitive systems to satisfy the requirements for the endoscopic treatment for ESD-induced ulcer. The results indicated that the addition of collagen to CS/GP system did not lead to remarkable changes on the physicochemical properties of the systems, which can transform from solution to hydrogels under physiological temperature within 90s, technically makes it suitable to be applied through catheter to gastric ulcer during ESD operation. Besides, hydrogels with high collagen concentration showed better biocompatibility, effectively protected L929, GES-1, HVSMC and CCD-18Co cells from acidic condition, induced more growth factors such as EGF, VEGF and FGF in those cells, and promoted coagulation. These results indicated that the CS/GP/Col thermo-sensitive hydrogel might be a promising biomaterial for the endoscopic treatment of ESD-induced ulcer, and further research can be carried out.