Chitosan Membranes Containing Plant Extracts: Preparation, Characterization and Antimicrobial Properties

Abstract

The main strategy of this study was to combine the traditional perspective of using medicinal extracts with polymeric scaffolds manufactured by an engineering approach to fabricate a potential dressing product with antimicrobial properties. Thus, chitosan-based membranes containing S. officinalis and H. perforatum extracts were developed and their suitability as novel dressing materials was investigated. The morphology of the chitosan-based films was assessed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the chemical structure characterization was performed via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The addition of the plant extracts increased the sorption capacity of the studied fluids, mainly at the membrane with S. officinalis extract. The membranes with 4% chitosan embedded with both plant extracts maintained their integrity after being immersed for 14 days in incubation media, especially in PBS. The antibacterial activities were determined by the modified Kirby–Bauer disk diffusion method for Gram-positive (S. aureus ATCC 25923, MRSA ATCC 43300) and Gram-negative (E. coli ATCC 25922, P. aeruginosa ATCC 27853) microorganisms. The antibacterial property was enhanced by incorporating the plant extracts into chitosan films. The outcome of the study reveals that the obtained chitosan-based membranes are promising candidates to be used as a wound dressing due to their good physico-chemical and antimicrobial properties.

The In Vitro Assessment of Antibacterial and Antioxidant Efficacy in Rosa damascena and Hypericum perforatum Extracts against Pathogenic Strains in the Interplay of Dental Caries, Oral Health, and Food Microbiota

“…The culture medium containing the tested bacteria without the presence of an herbal substance was used as a control. Each procedure was performed in triplicate (three independent experiments) [ 65 , 66 ].…”

Innovative Bioactive Nanofibrous Materials Combining Medicinal and Aromatic Plant Extracts and Electrospinning Method

“…The incorporation of the plant extracts enhanced the antibacterial properties of the resulting films against S. aureus, E. coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The obtained results show that the prepared chitosan-based films are promising candidates that could be used as wound dressing material due to their good physico-chemical properties and antimicrobial activity [55]. Additionally, microencapsulation in alginate beads was used to protect the functional properties of Lamiaceae bioactives (lavender, lemon balm, peppermint, sage, and thyme) [56].…”

In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of Chitosan/HPMC/Insulin Hydrogel for Wound Healing Applications

“…Absorption peaks at 1647 cm −1 mark the presence of C=O vibrations of amide II groups, and those at 1577 cm −1 indicate the presence of N-H vibrations in amine groups. The peaks at 1419 cm −1 and 1374 cm −1 originate from C-H vibrations, while both peaks at 1058 cm −1 and 1025 cm −1 are related to C-O stretching [25,26]. For HPMC, there exists an absorption band spanning 3600 cm −1 -3100 cm −1 which is associated solely with O-H stretching vibrations.…”