Abstract
An active wound dressing should address the main goals in wound treatment, which are improved wound healing and reduced infection rates. We developed novel multifunctional nanofibrous wound dressings with three active ingredients: chloramphenicol (CAM), beta-glucan (βG) and chitosan (CHI), of which βG and CHI are active nanofiber-forming biopolymers isolated from the cell walls of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and from shrimp shells, respectively. To evaluate the effect of each active ingredient on the nanofibers’ morphological features and bioactivity, nanofibers with both βG and CHI, only βG, only CHI and only copolymers, polyethylene oxide (PEO) and hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) were fabricated. All four nanofiber formulations were also prepared with 1% CAM. The needle-free NanospiderTM technique allowed for the successful production of defect-free nanofibers containing all three active ingredients. The CAM-containing nanofibers had a burst CAM-release and a high absorption capacity. Nanofibers with all active ingredients (βG, CHI and CAM) showed a concentration-dependent anti-inflammatory activity, while maintaining the antimicrobial activity of CAM. The promising anti-inflammatory properties, together with the high absorption capacity and antimicrobial effect, make these multifunctional nanofibers promising as dressings in local treatment of infected and exuding wounds, such as burn wounds.
Highlights
Infections are one of the main local causes of impaired wound healing, leading to increased morbidity [1]
We explored nanofibrous dressings formed by electrospinning for this purpose, since nanofibers previously have shown promising features in the local delivery of antimicrobial agents [10]
Polyethylene oxide (PEO), with an average molecular weight of 900,000 g/mol was manufactured by Dow Chemical Company (Midland, MI, USA)
Summary
Infections are one of the main local causes of impaired wound healing, leading to increased morbidity [1]. E.g., infections in burn wounds, are often treated effectively by applying antibiotics directly onto the wound bed [2]. The local administration of antibiotics is favourable, since it allows effective and selective treatment, lowers the systemic drug exposure and reduces the risk of systemic side effects [3,4]. Local drug treatment is preferable with respect to antibiotic resistance since antibiotics restricted to topical use, e.g., chloramphenicol (CAM), seem to have a lower resistance rate and to maintain their activity against several otherwise resistant organisms [5]. CAM is an old, broad-spectrum antibiotic that inhibits bacterial growth by binding to the 50S ribosomal subunit. Despite its broad-spectrum antimicrobial action, its use has been limited due to its side effects (e.g., bone marrow toxicity), which has discouraged its use in systemic
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