Melissa officinalis essential oil loaded polycaprolactone membranes: evaluation of antimicrobial activities and cytocompatibility for tissue engineering applications

Abstract

Antimicrobial biomaterials play important role in tissue engineering applications to protect damaged tissue from infections. The aim of this study is producing antimicrobial polycaprolactone (PCL) membranes by using a plant based antimicrobial agent. Therefore, Melissa officinalis essential oil (MEO) was investigated against 10 types of microorganisms and remarkable antimicrobial activity was demonstrated. PCL:MEO membranes were prepared by solvent casting method by mixing MEO into PCL in various ratios (PCL:0M, PCL:0.25M, PCL:0.5M, and PCL:1M w/w). Water contact angle measurements showed that hydrophilicity of the membranes increased with increasing concentrations of MEO from 103.44o to 83.36o for PCL:0M and PCL:1M, respectively. It was determined that there was an inverse relationship between the MEO concentration and the mechanical properties. Notable antioxidant activity of PCL/MEO membranes was exhibited by the inhibition percent of DPPH which was increased from 24.74% to 44.79% for PCL:0M and PCL:1M, respectively. The antimicrobial activity of MEO was also highly maintained in PCL membranes. For PCL/MEO membranes, at least 99.9% of microorganisms were inhibited. Cytocompatibility of the membranes were investigated by resazurin assay, SEM analysis and DAPI staining. PCL:0.25M and PCL:0.5M membranes supported the viability of L929 cells more than 87% when compared to PCL:0M membranes on day 6. However, the viability of L929 cells on PCL:1M membranes was about 43% indicating significant decrease on cellular activity. In conclusion, PCL:0.25M and PCL:0.5M membranes with their high antimicrobial activity, acceptable mechanical properties and cytocompatible properties, they can be considered as an alternative biomaterial for tissue engineering applications.

Electrospun nanofiber mats caged the mammalian macrophages on their surfaces and prevented their inflammatory responses independent of the fiber diameter

“…PCL is a FDA approved synthetic polymer that is widely studied for soft and hard tissue engineering applications due to its biocompatible nature, degradability, non-toxicity of degradation products and low melting temperature 39 , 40 . Studies on PCL, which has been among the most preferred polymers in the field of tissue engineering for many years, continue with an increasing trend.…”

Potential use of extracted flax seed mucilage in the construction of macroporous cryo-scaffolds

“…Meanwhile, as a control group, cells were drop-seeded into the 6-well flat culture plate at the same density for each well. The cell-scaffold samples were incubated for 24, 48, and 72 h. At the end of each incubation period, the cell viability was analyzed by MTT protocol as also performed in previous studies [25][26][27].…”