Marine Collagen-Based Biomaterials for Skin Regeneration. A Waste Valorization Strategy

In the framework of the societal challenges of waste recycling and valorization, our projects aim at developing innovative and eco-friendly collagen-made biomaterials to be used for skin regeneration from a food by-product, sea urchin wastes. We developed sea urchin collagen-derived biomaterial prototypes and characterized them in terms of structure, mechanical features and in vitro biocompatibility. Furthermore, to simulate and predict the in vivo biomaterial performances, in vitro degradation kinetics were carried out in physiological and enzymatic conditions. Degradation test showed that in enzymatic conditions scaffolds are degraded by more than 50% after 48 hours while Integra®, a commercial bovine collagen membrane used as control, by less than 10%. The obtained degradation products, i.e. collagen peptides, were then evaluated for their potential to become in turn “bioactive molecules” useful in the microenvironment of regenerating tissues. Cytotoxicity assays, performed on human dermal fibroblasts, showed that after an exposure of 24 hours peptides derived from sea urchin collagen enhance cell proliferation in a concentration-dependent manner. Preliminary in vivo biocompatibility tests suggest that our biomaterial prototypes are biocompatible and promote skin regeneration, efficiently. As a step forward, future experiments aim at analyzing tissue healing promoted by the collagen scaffolds loaded with natural antioxidant compounds (polyhydroxynaphtoquinones) extracted from sea urchins waste as well. Overall, this work strengthens the potential of an innovative and environmentally friendly marine biomaterial in tissue regeneration, enabling smart recycling of food wastes.