Preparation of PVA/Chitosan samples by electrospinning and film casting methods and evaluating the effect of surface morphology on their antibacterial behavior

Abstract

Chitosan due to outstanding properties including biocompatibility, biodegradability, nontoxicity and antibacterial activity has received considerable attention in different fields of biomedical engineering. To study the effect of morphology and topology on antibacterial activity of chitosan, two samples of PVA/Chitosan blend with the same concentration and volume ratio were prepared using electrospinning and film casting methods. To improve the electrospinability of chitosan, it was hydrolyzed by 50% V NaOH solution (95 °C for 48 h.) and PVA was used as an auxiliary polymer for electrospinning. The best electrospinning parameters for producing beadless structure were determined at a voltage of 21 kV and distance of 15 cm. Different physical and chemical characterizations of produced samples were performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), viscosimetry, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and antibacterial assay by two different bacterium strains including Escherichia coli (E.coli) as the gram-negative and Staphylococcus aureus (S.aureus) as the gram-positive bacteria. Antibacterial assays revealed higher sensitivity of E.coli in comparison with S.aureus in the two samples. Also, it revealed that nanotopography of surface wielded influence on the antibacterial activity of samples.