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Surgical suture plays an important role in increasing wound repair. However, the healing efficacy of sutures currently is still not satisfactory due to their failure in regulating healing biology. Therefore, developing functional sutures are highly required. Herein, we fabricated a new degradable suture to control the release of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) for incisional wound healing. The suture (bFGF-DA@PCL) was simply made by anchoring bFGF onto the surface of the electrospun polycaprolactone (PCL) suture through the assistance of dopamine with a bFGF loading efficiency around 80 %. The introduction of dopamine to the suture also increased the mechanical strength of suture from 17 kPa to 27 kPa. The in vitro data evidenced that the suture could effectively prolong bFGF release up to 10 days and enhance cell adhesion and proliferation. Further in vivo results demonstrated that the suture could increase wound healing and induce a complete wound closure within 13 days. Moreover, the suture was found to accelerate skin mechanical restoration with a recovery of maximum strength to 87.1 % of the healthy skin. The suture was also revealed to help the skin wound healing by promoting granulation tissue formation, collagen deposition, reepithelization, and basement membrane reconstruction.

Herein, we discovered that the sunflower sporopollenin exine capsule (SEC) is an effective photothermal agent. In vitro study finds that the spikes on the surface of the sunflower SEC and its structural integrity are the two key factors to determine the photothermal effect. In vivo melanoma mouse model proves that the sunflower SEC can effectively inhibit tumor growth by inducing cell apoptosis and reducing cell proliferation through the near-infra red light triggered photothermal therapy. The in vivo biosafety of the SEC is also validated. In consideration of its safety, uniform size distribution and abundant availability, the sunflower SEC will be a promising photothermal agent candidate for clinical translational application.