Bee propolis is one of the most common natural extracts and has gained significant interest in biomedicine due to its high content of phenolic acids and flavonoids, which are responsible for the antioxidant activity of natural products. The present study report that the propolis extract (PE) was produced by ethanol in the surrounding environment. The obtained PE was added at different concentrations to cellulose nanofiber (CNF)/poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), and subjected to freezing thawing and freeze drying methods to develop porous bioactive matrices. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations displayed that the prepared samples had an interconnected porous structure with pore sizes in the range of 10–100 μm. The high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) results of PE showed around 18 polyphenol compounds, with the highest amounts of hesperetin (183.7 µg/mL), chlorogenic acid (96.9 µg/mL) and caffeic acid (90.2 µg/mL). The antibacterial activity results indicated that both PE and PE-functionalized hydrogels exhibited a potential antimicrobial effects against Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Streptococcus mutans, and Candida albicans. The in vitro test cell culture experiments indicated that the cells on the PE-functionalized hydrogels had the greatest viability, adhesion, and spreading of cells. Altogether, these data highlight the interesting effect of propolis bio-functionalization to enhance the biological features of CNF/PVA hydrogel as a functional matrix for biomedical applications.

Loading of anticancer drugs into electrospun fiber matrices is a portentous approach for clinical treatment of diseased tissues or organs. In this study, doxorubicin hydrochloride (DOX) is added to silica nanoparticles (SiO 2 ) during the formation of SiO 2 via the sol-gel approach. The obtained DOX@SiO 2 nanoparticles are then added to poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) blend before electrospinning process via different methods. The effects of DOX addition as a free form or as DOX@SiO 2 nanoparticles on physical and chemical properties of obtained PCL-PEO fibers, as well as release profiles are evaluated to give a continual DOX release for several days. The morphology observed with scanning electron microscope (FESEM) revealed significant changes in the average diameter of obtained fibers ranging from 2164 nm to 659 nm and distribution of drug-loaded nanoparticles in the final mats according to the mode of additions. With the same manner, the releasing performances of obtained mats are quite different. Therefore, fabrication of drug loaded mats would offer a powerful approach to minimize serious side effects for clinical patients and allows us to control the drug concentration in the bloodstream.

Diabetes is connected with diminished wound healing, that makes patients liable to continuing difficult wounds. Metal nanomaterials as single conjugates have established to keep possible properties of wound when metal nanoparticles are coupled with other wound covering materials. This study aimed to investigate a possible role of cotton fabrics full with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) to enhance wound healing in diabetic model induced by streptozotocin (STZ).Animals were classified into four groups including the wounded group that were equivalently covered with sterile dressing that made of cotton fabric which had been saturated with different concentrations of silver nanoparticles, and the control group that was preserved with only cotton covering without any treatment (blank group); percent of wound contraction in different studied groups was estimated. Plasma nitric oxide (NO), malodialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH) were measured. Serum neutrophil elastase and nuclear factor kappa b (NF-κb) were assayed by ELISA. Homocystiene (Hcy) was estimated by HPLC. Our results revealed an elevation in wound area, MDA, NF-κb, Hcy, and elastase in the wound group compared to treated groups concomitant with a decrease in plasma nitric oxide and reduced glutathione activities, while treatment with AgNPs significantly ameliorated these parameters in treated group compared to blank group. AgNPs showed high wound contraction rates according to their used concentration .In conclusion; AgNPs have gained considerable attention amongst researchers in wound healing applications, owing to their physicochemical and biological properties. AgNPs promote wound healing and effectively control the growth of microorganisms at the wound site, and this strategy plays an important role in the treatment of wounds.

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T HE MAJOR challenge of the electrospinning process lies in the optimization of its parameters to achieve desirable nanofibers morphology and properties. The present work highlights the change of properties for electrospun poly ɛ-caprolactone and poly ethylene oxide with modulation of different parameters. The effect of solution parameters such as; concentration poly ɛ-caprolactone, concentration of poly ethylene oxide relative to poly ɛ-caprolactone, viscosity , different solvents, voltage properties and distance separates tip of the syringe and collector to fabricate poly ɛ-caprolactone electrospun nanofibers with desired morphologies is indicated in present work. Morphologies of the processed nanofibers are examined by FESEM, the average diameter of nanofibers and their normal distribution are investigated by image j analyzer software. Of all combinations, the best and the finest nanofibers are obtained at 10%w/v poly ɛ-caprolactone, 3% w/v poly ethylene oxide concentration with respect to that of poly ɛ-caprolactone, at voltage 20 kV and lastly at 12 cm distance separate the tip of syringe and collector. Controlling the features of electrospun fibers via variation on the operating parameters, allow applications of fibers on different fields.