Morphology, drug release, antibacterial, cell proliferation, and histology studies of chamomile-loaded wound dressing mats based on electrospun nanofibrous poly(ɛ-caprolactone)/polystyrene blends

• Published in: Journal of biomedical materials research. Part B, Applied biomaterials Applied biomaterials, 2014-07, Vol.102 (5), p.977-987
• Main Authors: Motealleh, Behrooz, Zahedi, Payam, Rezaeian, Iraj, Moghimi, Morvarid, Abdolghaffari, Amir Hossein, Zarandi, Mohammad Amin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents - chemistry; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacokinetics; Anti-Bacterial Agents - pharmacology; Antibacterial agents; Antibiotics. Antiinfectious agents. Antiparasitic agents; Antiinfectives and antibacterials; Bandages; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical materials; Candida albicans - growth & development; Cell Line; chamomile; Chamomile - chemistry; Disease Models, Animal; drug release; Electrospinning; Histology; Humans; Materials research; Materials science; Mats; Medical sciences; nanofibers; Nanofibers - chemistry; Nanostructure; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Polyesters - chemistry; Polymer blends; Polystyrene resins; Polystyrenes - chemistry; Rats; Staphylococcus aureus - growth & development; Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases; Surgical implants; Technology. Biomaterials. Equipments; wound healing; Wounds and Injuries - therapy
• ISSN: 1552-4973; 1552-4981
• DOI: 10.1002/jbm.b.33078

For the first time, it has been tried to achieve optimum conditions for electrospun poly(ε-caprolactone)/polystyrene (PCL/PS) nanofibrous samples as active wound dressings containing chamomile via D-optimal design approach. In this work, systematic in vitro and in vivo studies were carried out by drug release rate, antibacterial and antifungal evaluations, cell culture, and rat wound model along with histology observation. The optimized samples were prepared under the following electrospinning conditions: PCL/PS ratio (65/35), PCL concentration 9%(w/v), PS concentration 14%(w/v), distance between the syringe needle tip and the collector 15.5 cm, applied voltage 18 kV, and solution flow rate 0.46 mL h(-1) . The FE-SEM micrographs showed electrospun PCL/PS (65/35) nanofibrous sample containing 15% chamomile had a minimum average diameter (∼175 nm) compared to the neat samples (∼268 nm). The drug released resulted in a gradual and high amount of chamomile from the optimized PCL/PS nanofibrous sample (∼70%) in respect to PCL and PS nanofibers after 48 h. This claim was also confirmed by antibacterial and antifungal evaluations in which an inhibitory zone with a diameter of about 7.6 mm was formed. The rat wound model results also indicated that the samples loaded with 15% chamomile extract were remarkably capable to heal the wounds up to 99 ± 0.5% after 14 days post-treatment periods. The adhesion of mesenchymal stem cells and their viability on the optimized samples were confirmed by MTT analysis. Also, the electrospun nanofibrous mats based on PCL/PS (65/35) showed a high efficiency in the wound closure and healing process compared to the reference sample, PCL/PS nanofibers without chamomile. Finally, the histology analysis revealed that the formation of epithelial tissues, the lack of necrosis and collagen fibers accumulation in the dermis tissues for the above optimized samples.