Abstract
We examined the potential of virgin coconut oil (VCO) incorporated in gellan gum (GG) films as a dressing material. Pure GG film is extremely brittle and inclusion of 0.3% (w/w) VCO in the GG film (GG-VCO3) improved the toughness (T≈0.67±0.33 J g−1) of the composite films. Swelling properties and water vapor transmission rates of GG-VCO composite films decreased, whereas thermal behavior values increased upon the addition of higher concentrations of VCO. Cell studies exhibit that the VCO is noncytotoxic to human skin fibroblast cells (CRL2522) with limited cell growth observed on GG-VCO3 films at 1,650 cells/well after incubation for 72 h which could be due to hydrophobic influence of the material surface. The qualitative and in vitro quantitative antibacterial results revealed that VCO does not possess strong bacterial resistance against all four tested bacteria, that is, two Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis) and two Gram-negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Proteus mirabilis).
Highlights
The development of wound care materials continues to cater to the various different needs of damaged skin problems
Gellan gum (GG) solution is immiscible with virgin coconut oil due to its high interfacial tension that is typical for oils with most polymers
The evaluation of the mechanical properties showed that inclusion of virgin coconut oil (VCO) into gellan gum (GG) membrane improved the strain-at-break at a cost of reducing the tensile strength and Young’s modulus
Summary
The development of wound care materials continues to cater to the various different needs of damaged skin problems Biopolymers such as gellan gum (GG) have received great attention, in the field of biomedicine, due to their biocompatibility and biodegradability properties. Gellan gum has been approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA) and the European Union (EU) labels it as E 415 in EU regulation for the use in food industry. It is currently popular in the development of tissue engineering. The cell viability and proliferation tests involved human fibroblast skin cell (CRL-2522, American Type Tissue Collection), while the antibacterial activities were assessed via in vitro qualitative and quantitative studies against four bacterial strains, that is, Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis) and Gram-negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Proteus mirabilis)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
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 call
