Ulmus davidiana var. japonica (UD) has widely been used in Korean traditional medicine for the treatment of various types of diseases including inflammation and skin wounds. The UD root bark powders possess gelling activity with an excellent capacity for absorbing water. This distinct property could make the UD root bark powders to be a great material for manufacturing a gel film specifically for the healing of large and highly exudating wounds (e.g., pressure sores and diabetic ulcers). In this research, we separated the UD root bark powder into 4 different samples based on their sizes and then tested their water absorption capacity and flowability. Based on these results, 75–150 μm sized and below 75 μm sized samples of UD root bark powders were chosen, and UD gel films were prepared. The UD gel films showed good thermal stability and mechanically improved properties compared with pullulan only gel film with excellent swelling capacity and favorable skin adhesiveness. Further, in the animal studies with the skin wound mice model, the UD gel films exhibited significant therapeutic effects on accelerating wound closure and dermal regeneration. Overall, this study demonstrated the applicability of UD root bark powders for hydrogel wound dressing materials, and the potential of UD gel films to be superior wound dressings to currently available ones.

榆变种。粳稻（UD）已广泛用于韩国传统医学中，用于治疗各种类型的疾病，包括炎症和皮肤伤口。UD根皮粉末具有胶凝活性，具有出色的吸水能力。这种独特的特性可使UD根皮粉末成为制造凝胶膜的理想材料，专门用于愈合大而高度渗出的伤口（例如褥疮和糖尿病性溃疡）。在这项研究中，我们根据其大小将UD根皮粉末分为4个不同的样品，然后测试其吸水能力和流动性。根据这些结果，选择了UD根皮粉末样品的75–150μm和75μm以下的样品，并制备了UD凝胶膜。与仅有支链淀粉的凝胶膜相比，UD凝胶膜显示出良好的热稳定性和机械性能，该凝胶膜具有出色的溶胀能力和良好的皮肤粘合性。此外，在皮肤伤口小鼠模型的动物研究中，UD凝胶膜对加速伤口闭合和皮肤再生显示出显着的治疗作用。总体而言，这项研究证明了UD根皮粉末可用于水凝胶伤口敷料材料，并且UD凝胶膜具有优于目前可用伤口敷料的潜力。