Fabrication of Chitosan/Silk Fibroin Composite Nanofibers for Wound-dressing Applications

Abstract

Chitosan, a naturally occurring polysaccharide with abundant resources, has been extensively exploited for various biomedical applications, typically as wound dressings owing to its unique biocompatibility, good biodegradability and excellent antibacterial properties. In this work, composite nanofibrous membranes of chitosan (CS) and silk fibroin (SF) were successfully fabricated by electrospinning. The morphology of electrospun blend nanofibers was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the fiber diameters decreased with the increasing percentage of chitosan. Further, the mechanical test illustrated that the addition of silk fibroin enhanced the mechanical properties of CS/SF nanofibers. The antibacterial activities against Escherichia coli (Gram negative) and Staphylococcus aureus (Gram positive) were evaluated by the turbidity measurement method; and results suggest that the antibacterial effect of composite nanofibers varied on the type of bacteria. Furthermore, the biocompatibility of murine fibroblast on as-prepared nanofibrous membranes was investigated by hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining and MTT assays in vitro, and the membranes were found to promote the cell attachment and proliferation. These results suggest that as-prepared chitosan/silk fibroin (CS/SF) composite nanofibrous membranes could be a promising candidate for wound healing applications.

Biomedical Activity of Chitin/Chitosan Based Materials—Influence of Physicochemical Properties Apart from Molecular Weight and Degree of N-Acetylation

“…Membranes with the ratio CH/CS 90/10 were chosen as the most promising biomaterials for tissue engineering applications. Cai et al [94] produced composite nanofibrous membranes of chitosan (CS) and silk fibroin (SF) by electrospinning. The antibacterial activity against E. coli (Gram-negative) and S. aureus (Gram-positive) increased greatly with increasing proportions of chitosan.…”

“…For the obtained materials such parameters as the degree of quaternization and/or the degree of substitution should be determined and their influence on the investigated biological properties tested, -the biological properties of chitin/chitosan materials used directly in biomedical applications (e.g., antimicrobial effects) could be different that observed for materials obtained after preparation of nanoparticles, microspheres, hydrogels, films, fibers or tablets, -considerable research efforts should be directed towards developing safe and efficient chitin/chitosan-based formulations. As an example, such factors as particle size requirement, the thermal and chemical stability of the active agent, reproducibility of the kinetic release profiles, stability of the final product and residual toxicity associated with the final product depends upon the methods of preparing chitosan-based micro/nanoparticulate drug delivery systems, -the influence of physicochemical properties apart from M W and DA on chitosan-based formulation affecting the delivery of DNA and siRNA [51] and on antimicrobial properties of chitin/chitosan materials [68][69][70][71][72][73][74][85][86][87][88]94,95,104,105] is the best known. For other biological properties our knowledge is still not sufficient, -chitin/chitosan properties are interrelated and many times they could influence the bioactivity in a conflicting manner, e.g., would healing properties and permeation enhancement properties are inevitably linked to other such as mucoadhesion and cytotoxicity.…”

Wound Healing and Electrospun Wound Dressings: Review

“…Çünkü bu yöntemle hazırlanan yara örtüleri diğer yöntemlere göre birçok üstünlük sağlamaktadır. Elektro-çekim yönte-miyle hazırlanan nanolif yapısındaki yara örtülerinin avantajları şöyle sıralanabilir: [32][33][34][35] 1) Nanolifler oluşumlarına bağlı olarak geniş yüzey alanı ve 3 boyutlu mikroporöz yapıya sahiptirler. Nanolifler, nanometre boyutunda olmaları ve rastgele yerleşimli yapılarıyla ekstraselüler matris (ECM) yapısını taklit edebilirler.…”

Multifunctional Nanofibers towards Active Biomedical Therapeutics

“…Chitosan, a natural abundant polysaccharide, has been a frequent candidate for wound dressing, either by itself or forming a hybrid with other types of biocompatible materials. Mo et al [151] prepared composites with chitosan and silk fibroin, and tested the amenability to wound dressing by hematoxylin and eosin (H & E) staining and MTT assays in vitro which showed good cell attachment and proliferation. Jang et al [152] fabricated dibutyryl chitin/poly(lactic acid) blends to study their effect on wound closure and wound healing in hairless mice.…”