Novel Alginate Frankincense Oil Blend Films for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Novel films based on alginate (Alg) with different concentrations of frankincense essential oil (FEO) (0, 0.5, 1%v/w) extracted from hydrodistillation of Boswellia sacra gum resins has been prepared. The effect of FEO content on the properties of the films was determined. The effect of γ-radiations of two doses (25 and 30 kGy) on the FEO 1% film was studied. The samples were studied through Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), dielectric spectroscopy and AC conductivity measurements in addition to antimicrobial and cytotoxicity evaluation. FTIR revealed that the addition of FEO did not cause any notable changes in the molecular structure of Alg. Moreover, gamma irradiations of two doses 25 and 30 kGy caused no significant changes in the chemical structure of the irradiated films but only some morphological changes in the surface were noticed. By the addition of FEO, the values of permittivity e′ increased in the whole frequency range. Moreover, the values of e′ and e″ increased with increasing irradiation doses (0–30 kGy). The dielectric data of e″ were analyzed before and after γ-irradiation using Havriliak–Negami terms. No drastic changes were noticed on the relaxation time of both relaxations after exposure of Alg-FEO1% film to γ-irradiation doses 25–30 kGy. However, the irradiated films exhibited higher conductivity as compared to that of unirradiated one. Alg-FEO films did not cause any cytotoxic effect on the human epithelial cells. The film containing FEO1% was effective against Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis and also inhibited the growth of Candida albicans.