Application of Gelatin Derived from Waste Tilapia Scales to an Antibiotic Hydrogel Pad

Abstract

The main purpose of this research is to optimize the process to change useless fish scales to be a hydrogel that can be used as drug-loaded materials. The results of morphological structure of the extracted gelatin powders derived from Tilapia scales using lime juice as natural acid in the extraction process showed appropriated like-polymer structure. The diffractogram pattern acquired on the pure gelatin powder were typical of a partially crystalline gelatin with a sharp peak with low intensity located at 2θ = ~7° and a broad peak located at 2θ = ~19°. This data can be confirmed the structure of the triple-helical crystalline structure in gelatin in the extracts. Chemical bonding analysis using FTIR revealed no difference in structure bonding between gelatin extracted from using synthetic acid and using natural acid. The hydrogel pads were fabricated based on using gelatin powder extracted from tilapia scales with natural acid and using CMC as cross-linking substance. This formulated hydrogel pad hold 10%-30% (v/w) of Thai herbal plai formula for pain and inflammatory treatment. The percent volume of Thai herbal plai was calculated to weight of extracted fish gelatin powder that was used in the hydrogel formulation. The maximum of 30% (v/w) can be added into the hydrogel pad and it showed the inhibition of Escherichia coli growth. This natural hydrogel could be a promising candidate to be used as natural medical gel bandages for people who have an allergy to general paper or plastic bandages.