Abstract
Biomedical industries are attempting to utilize natural materials, as they are bio-compatible, non-toxic, and show bioactive properties, like antimicrobial activity. In this study, natural polyelectrolyte complexed chitosan/alginate films (PECs) were prepared via a casting/solvent evaporation technique, and their characteristics and drug release properties were investigated. PEC films made with two different overall polymer contents, 0.4 and 1 w/v%, were loaded with thyme oil nanoemulsion as drug carrier. The structure of the films was studied by FTIR and optical and scanning electron microscopy. Prepared PEC films had good mechanical and water vapor permeability properties. Release of the thyme oil from the pH-sensitive PEC films (TM-PEC) was detected and followed by UV spectroscopy. The results indicated that the drug release rate of TM-PEC films was the fastest when the chitosan content was 1 %w/v, and various mathematical models were analyzed for investigating the drug release mechanism. Antibacterial tests were performed by counting the number of surviving gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. The in vitro test indicated the limitation Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) growth in the presence of TM-PEC films. The MTT test showed more cell viability of the TM-PEC film in comparison with that of the PEC film without TM. Based on the measured physical and antibacterial properties, the chitosan–alginate PEC films loaded with antibacterial essential oils can be considered for biomedical applications, such as wound dressings or controlled release systems.
Highlights
The neutralization and bridging produced by electrostatic forces is the major mechanism for the formation of polyanion–polycation polyelectrolyte complexes (PEC)
The Drug Loading (DL) of the nanoemulsion was about 2.83 g/100 g meaning that 2.83% of the nanoemulsion weight is composed of the thyme oil
Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra indicated formation of alginate–chitosan PEC films loaded with thyme oil
Summary
The neutralization and bridging produced by electrostatic forces is the major mechanism for the formation of polyanion–polycation polyelectrolyte complexes (PEC). There are several factors that affect PEC formation, such as degree of ionization or charge density, position of ionic groups on the polyionic chains, concentration, molecular weight, composition, and mixing order. Alginate and chitosan are interesting biopolymers because they are cheap and well tolerated by the immune system [9,10]. Their use in PECs is widely reported [11,12,13]. Alginate–chitosan PECs have an impressive effect of limiting the release of encapsulated materials compared to either charged polymer alone [11]
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