BIOACTIVE HYDROGEL TYPE CARRIER SYSTEMS AIMED FOR TEXTILE WOUND DRESSING

Abstract

Wound healing is a specific biological process related to the general phenomenon of growth and tissue regeneration. Polysaccharide gels are usually biocompatible and show several peculiar physical-chemical properties that make them suitable for a variety of biomedical applications. The hydrogels based on these types of polymers can cool the wound and reduce pain, which is helpful for burns or painful wounds. This paper aims to study the antibacterial activity of a layer-by-layer hydrogel “carrier” system based on sodium alginate and chitosan, which is further functionalized with active principles, like hyaluronic acid, or ZnO nanoparticles, or bacitracin. The synthesis of the hydrogels system was followed by the immobilization on textile woven fabrics made of fibrous blends of different chemical compositions, in order to achieve bioactive wound dressing for application in the treatment of inflammatory skin conditions. The textile materials used to produce the wound dressings have the same weave and warp thread (100% cotton, Nm 50/2), but different weft thread (100% acetate 130 dtex or 100% Lenpur Nm 34/1). For this purpose, several experimental variants of hydrogels were prepared and the treated textile materials were characterized from a physical-chemical and comfort point of view. The antibacterial activity and the biocompatibility of the textile materials functionalized with the hydrogels and active ingredients were also investigated. The textile materials treated with the synthesized hydrogels and subsequent bacitracin addition show an antibacterial effect on both S. aureus and E. coli test strains, while the hydrogels followed by ZnO nanoparticles addition show an antibacterial effect against S. aureus.

Keywords

• bioactive textiles
• zno nanoparticles
• bacitracin
• hyaluronic acid
• antibacterial activity