671 Burn Wound Healing Effect of Bromelain-loaded Chitosan Nanofibers

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Bromelain is a mixture of proteolytic enzymes present in all tissues of pineapple (Ananas comosus). It is known as an efficient debriding agent in burn treatment and has been shown to effectively and selectively debride burn eschar. In this study, the efficiency of bromelain-loaded chitosan nanofibers for burn wounds repair was investigated in animal model. Methods Chitosan nanofibers containing bromelain were prepared by electrospinning method. The physicochemical characteristics of the synthetized nanofibers, release profile and activity of bromelain loaded in nanofibers were evaluated. The burn healing effect of bromelain-loaded nanofibers were studied in the induced burn wounds in rats for 21 days. The efficacy of treatment was assessed by evaluating changes in wound closer and histological analysis at different time point. Results Successful electrospinning of bromelain-loaded chitosan nanofibers resulted in uniform and bead-less nanofibers which released bromelain up to 48h. The formulation kept bromelain enzyme activity after 6-month storage at 4 °C and did not show any cytotoxicity on human dermal fibroblasts. Moreover, in vivo study in a rat burn model confirmed the safety and efficacy of applying bromelain loaded nanofibers in burn wound healing when a significant improve in wound closer was observed in bromelain loaded group and histopathological studies showed more effects on re-epithelialization, debridement and more reduction of necrosis compared to chitosan alone. Conclusions Together, these results suggest that bromelain chitosan nanofiber possesses great wound healing activity and could be considered as an effective natural topical burn wound healing treatment.