Abstract
The combination of traditional herbal medicine (phytotherapeutic agents) with bioactive glasses is a promising strategy to generate advanced scaffolds for bone tissue engineering (BTE). An old remedy used for wound care since ancient times is honey. The antioxidant, antimicrobial and antibacterial properties of Manuka honey, in particular, make it an attractive substance for application in BTE scaffolds to prevent infections and biofilm formation. In this study 45S5 bioactive glass-based scaffolds produced via the foam replica technique were coated with corn protein zein and Manuka honey with two purposes: to improve the mechanical properties of the brittle scaffolds and to impart antibacterial properties. The morphology and chemical composition of the coated scaffolds were characterized with scanning electron microscopy and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, respectively, demonstrating the presence of Manuka honey in the coating. The release of the honey was quantified via ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometry; moreover, the antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus was evaluated via colony-forming units counting, reduction of Alamar blue and turbidity measurements. Our findings suggest the effective combination of Manuka honey and bioactive glass, adding one more system to the novel family of bioactive glass scaffolds functionalized with phytotherapeutic agents.
Highlights
One of the first approaches of humanity to heal wounds, tackle inflammation or other sources of pain was the use of natural remedies, more exactly herbal ingredients (Thakur et al, 2011)
When Manuka honey (MH) is incorporated into the coating solution, it can be detected in the scaffold as the black or dark gray spots and lines shown in the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) pictures (Figures 2C–F)
Even though the coating solution with MH was thicker compared to the zein solution, in terms of coating quality and blockage of pores, no significant difference was observed with increasing amount of MH
Summary
One of the first approaches of humanity to heal wounds, tackle inflammation or other sources of pain was the use of natural remedies, more exactly herbal ingredients (Thakur et al, 2011). A wide range of knowledge on the healing effects of plants has been passed down through generations. Today’s medical research is gaining renewed and increasing interest in the field of herbal medicine, the mechanisms of action of those so-called phytotherapeutics are still not completely elucidated. The multitude of different medical agents and the wide range of biological effects of phytotherapeutics are making even more complicated to truly understand the detailed mechanism of healing (Schuhladen et al, 2019). Research in the biomaterials field is increasing to exploit the advantages and the potential of herbal medicine, usually combining herbal or plant extracts with engineered biomaterials (Wang et al, 2018; Banerjee and Bose, 2019).
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