Influence of Acidic pH on Wound Healing In Vivo: A Novel Perspective for Wound Treatment

Abstract

There has been little understanding of acidification functionality in wound healing, highlighting the need to study the efficacy of wound acidification on wound closure and cellular activity in non-infected wounds. This study is focused on establishing the healing potential of wound acidification in non-infected wounds. Acidic buffers, constituting either phosphoric or citric acid, were employed to modify the physiological pH of non-infected full-thickness excisional murine wounds. Acidification of the wound by acidic buffers was found to be an effective strategy to improve wound healing. A significant improvement in wound healing parameters was observed as early as 2 days post-treatment with acidic buffers compared to controls, with faster rate of epithelialization, wound closure and higher levels of collagen at day 7. pH is shown to play a role in mediating the rate of wound healing, with acidic buffers formulated at pH 4 observed to stimulate faster recovery of wounded tissues than pH 6 buffers. Our study shows the importance of maintaining an acidic wound microenvironment at pH 4, which could be a potential therapeutic strategy for wound management.