Compositional synergy of poly-vinyl alcohol, starch, glycerol and citric acid concentrations during wound dressing films fabrication

Abstract

This work addresses response surface methodology (RSM) design based investigations to obtain useful insights on the compatibility and synergy of quaternary formulations [variant macromolecular concentrations of starch (5–10 w/w%), polyvinyl alcohol (5–10 w/w%), citric acid (15–40 wt%) and glycerol (15–40 wt%)] and to yield wound dressing films with appropriate combinations of swelling index (SI), in-vitro degradation during 27 days and tensile strength (TS). The design studies inferred that while SI and in-vitro degradation followed quadratic expressions with respect to variations in the quaternary compositions, the TS was relatively less complex with bilinear and linear terms of the independent variables. Based on experimental investigations, optimized film (composition: 5 w/w% PVA, 10 w/w% St, 15 wt% CA and 15 wt% Gl) exhibited excellent SI (338.37%), acceptable in-vitro degradation (53.27%) and gel fraction (GF 34%), higher TS (7.65 MPa) and water solubility (66%) but poor elongation (9.13%). Further, the optimal composition based polymer composite film possessed promising antibacterial activity with gram-negative (Escherichia coli) and gram-positive (Listeria monocytogenes) bacteria to indicate its competence in terms of a durable and inexpensive biocompatible wound dressing film.