Abstract
The surgical suture has long been used to reconnect the injured tissues to restore their structure and function. However, its utility remains challenging in many areas, such as surgical site infections and minimally invasive surgeries. Herein, we report a novel surgical suture that possesses both antibacterial activity and shape memory effect to address these issues. In detail, natural antibacterial berberine was incorporated directly into the spinning solution of shape memory polyurethane with a near body transition temperature, and then berberine-containing polyurethane (BP) fibers were prepared by a facile one-step wet-spinning method for surgical suture. The prepared BP fibers were micro-sized and characterized by their transition temperature, morphology, water contact angles, mechanical properties, in vitro shape memory effect, drug release, and antibacterial activity. The results showed that with the increasing amount of the incorporated berberine, the transition temperatures of the fibers were not significantly affected, remains at near body temperature, while the contact angles of the fibers were significantly decreased and the mechanical properties of the fibers were significantly weakened. The optimized fiber was selected to evaluate the cytotoxicity and in vivo biocompatibility before in vivo shape memory effect and wound healing capacity in a mouse skin suture–wound model was tested. Besides the shape memory effect, it was demonstrated that the fiber is capable of antibacterial activity and anti-inflammatory effect, and promoting wound healing. The mechanism of the antibacterial activity and anti-inflammatory effect of the fiber was discussed. Overall, it is expected that by the berberine added to the fiber for surgical suture, it will be more popular and extend the utility of the sutures in a wide range of clinical applications.
Highlights
As one of the most important medical devices, like wound dressing materials (Huang et al, 2019a), the surgical suture has long been used to reconnect the injured tissues to restore their structure and function (Shao et al, 2016)
The berberine-containing shape memory fiber was fabricated by a facile scalable one-step wet-spinning approach, and the fibers were micro-sized in the range of 237–339 mm
According to the Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) curves (Figure 2A), the influence on the Tm after incorporating berberine is not obvious, and the prepared three types of fibers, berberine-containing polyurethane (BP)-0, BP-1, and BP-2, have similar Tm which are near body temperature
Summary
As one of the most important medical devices, like wound dressing materials (Huang et al, 2019a), the surgical suture has long been used to reconnect the injured tissues to restore their structure and function (Shao et al, 2016). The underlying causes have been suggested, such as bacteria bio-adherence and formation of colonization and subsequent biofilm in the surgical site, there is no effective treatment to improve the outcomes of the patients according to clinical feedback. New alternative substances need to be employed so as to achieve good antibacterial activity In this regard, berberine hydrochloride (BCH), which is derived from Coptis chinensis, was applied in this study. As a natural active pharmaceutical ingredient, it has gained considerable attention for its manifold pharmacological properties, including antibacterial activity and anti-inflammatory effect, both of which have been suggested to be beneficial to the infected wound, indicating that berberine might be a promising candidate for the treatment of surgical suture (Avila-Carrasco et al, 2019)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
