Exploitation of essential oil extracted from Tunisian Laurus nobilis for the development of PET antibacterial sutures

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is the use of a Tunisian bio resource for the improvement of mechanical and physical properties of braided polyethylene terephthalate (PET) sutures. In this study, antibacterial PET sutures were developed using Tunisian essential oil of Laurus nobilis. A new lubrication process was proposed for this fact. The essential oil of L. nobilis was selected because of its antibacterial properties as well as analgesic, antiseptic, antiviral, and anti-infectious proprieties. Optimized extraction process of essential oil was also determined. Characteristics and cytotoxicity of extracted essential oil were also investigated. In order to study the impact of lubrication conditions on PET suture performances, mechanical properties and antibacterial effects of braided sutures were studied. The obtained results prove that sutures lubrication improves suture knot efficiency and leads to smoother surface. Developed sutures show also obvious antibacterial effect against Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538 G (+) colonies.