Hydrogel Dressings With Egg White Proteins For Wound Healing

Abstract

Diabetes and other pathologic conditions can disrupt the wound healing process, leading to chronic wounds, that are responsible for serious infections. Egg white proteins, such as lysozyme and ovotransferrin, are attracting interest especially because of their demonstrated antioxidant and antibacterial activities. These bioactive proteins can then be used to enrich advanced wound dressing films, which can help control wound oxidative stress and thereby accelerate wound healing and/or prevent bacterial infection. The aim of this work is to develop novel hydrogel formulations, based on blends of a synthetic polymer and polysaccharides, and incorporating egg white proteins and/or their peptides, to investigate their applicability as advanced wound dressings. The rheological properties of the hydrogels were investigated to assess the viscoelastic properties and gelation behaviour. The microstructure of the hydrogel dressings was investigated by scanning electron microscopy. The erosion in PBS buffer was also evaluated. Flexible, skin-adhesive hydrogel films with potential applications in wound healing were obtained.