RF pulsed plasma modified composite scaffold for enhanced anti-microbial activity and accelerated wound healing

• Published in: International journal of pharmaceutics 2024-12, Vol.667 (Pt A), p.124864, Article 124864
• Main Authors: Trimukhe, A.M., Melo, J.S., Chaturvedi, D., Jain, R.D., Dandekar, P., Deshmukh, R.R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anti-microbial; Biodegradable; Microporous; Pulsed plasma; Scaffold; Wound healing
• ISSN: 0378-5173; 1873-3476; 1873-3476
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2024.124864

[Display omitted] •Synthesis of biodegradable microporous composite scaffold from agarose and chitosan.•Diphenyl-diselenide deposition on scaffold surface using pulsed plasma.•Enhanced antimicrobial activity of selenium deposited on scaffold surface by pulsed plasma.•Accelerated wound healing by pulsed plasma modified scaffold in rat model. Infected wounds present significant challenges pertaining to healing and often demand administration of strong antibiotics to patients. Also, drug resistant microbes may alter the physiology of wounds to create biofilms, frequently leading to high morbidity and mortality. In this investigation, a biodegradable, microporous composite agarose-chitosan scaffold was fabricated. Furthermore, its surface was modified with diphenyldiselenide deposition, using low pressure pulsed plasma technology. The optimized plasma parameters, viz. 5ON/15OFF (ms) of plasma pulse rate and 80 min of treatment time resulted in scaffolds having enhanced anti-bacterial activity against gram positive microbes like Staphylococcus (S.) aureus and S. epidermidis. The scaffolds were non-toxic to skin cells, as confirmed by the MTT assay. Cell proliferation through plasma treated and untreated scaffolds was assessed by culturing primary human dermal fibroblasts (HdaF) and human keratinocytes (HaCaT) and visualizing via confocal microscopy. Moreover, in-vivo rat model confirmed accelerated wound healing with plasma treated scaffold (100 % on day 14), as compared to the untreated scaffold (100 % on day 16) when compared with over-the-counter (OTC) ointment Betadine (100 % on day 12).