Microwave Enabled Physically Cross Linked Sodium Alginate and Pectin Film and Their Application in Combination with Modified Chitosan-Curcumin Nanoparticles. A Novel Strategy for 2nd Degree Burns Wound Healing in Animals.

Hafiz Muhammad Basit,Abdul Wahab,Muhammad Ali,Nauman Rahim Khan,Hassan A Albarqi,Shefaat Ullah Shah,Ismail A Walbi,Abdulsalam A Alqahtani,Mian Mufarih Shah

doi:10.3390/polym13162716

Abstract

This study reports microwave assisted physically cross-linked sodium alginate and pectin film and their testing in combination with modified chitosan-curcumin nanoparticles for skin tissue regeneration following 2nd degree burn wound. Film was formulated by solution casting method and physically cross-linked using microwave irradiation at frequency of 2450 MHz, power 750 Watt for different time intervals for optimization. The optimized formulation was analyzed for various physiochemical attributes. Afterwards, the optimized film and optimized modified chitosan-curcumin nanoparticles were tested in combination for skin regeneration potential following burn wound in vivo and skin samples extracted and tested for different attributes. The results indicated that the optimized film formulation (5 min microwave treatment) physicochemical attributes significantly enhanced addressing the properties required of a wound healing platform. The vibrational analysis indicated that the optimized film experienced significant rigidification of hydrophilic domains while the hydrophobic domains underwent significant fluidization which also resulted in significant increase in the transition temperatures and system enthalpies of both polymer moieties with microwave treatment. The combined film and nanoparticles application significantly increased protein content in the wounds which were evident from higher absorbance ratios of amide-I and amide-II (2.15 ± 0.001), significantly higher melting transition temperature and enthalpy (∆T = 167.2 ± 15.4 °C, ∆H = 510.7 ± 20.1 J/g) and higher tensile strength (14.65 ± 0.8 MPa) with significantly enhanced percent re-epithelization (99.9934 ± 2.56) in comparison to other treatments. The combined application of film and nanoparticles may prove to be a new novel treatment strategy for 2nd degree burn wound healing.

Highlights

As the largest human organ, skin is often prone to easy damage compromising the barrier properties and enabling exogenous pathogens to infiltrate the wound and complicating the wound as well as delaying the wound healing process [1]
The skin tissue engineering is a prospective source of advanced therapy which is extensively studied these days to combat acute and chronic skin injuries [3]
The efficient moisture adsorption ability of film helps remove wound exudates from the wound bed which helps in wound debridement and keeps the wound moist which is detrimental for fast skin regeneration [56]

Summary

Introduction

As the largest human organ, skin is often prone to easy damage compromising the barrier properties and enabling exogenous pathogens to infiltrate the wound and complicating the wound as well as delaying the wound healing process [1]. Burn wound treatment is still a challenge for biomedical scientists since they leave behind scars which drastically compromise the psychological wellbeing of the patient. The skin tissue engineering is a prospective source of advanced therapy which is extensively studied these days to combat acute and chronic skin injuries [3]. It involves development of platforms with ability to either replace the entire tissue and/or help in creating suitable cell environment which help in restoring the normal function of the damaged tissue [4]. Some of the epidermal [5], dermal [6] and epidermal/dermal composite [7]

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