Physically Crosslinked Hydrogels Based on Poly (Vinyl Alcohol) and Fish Gelatin for Wound Dressing Application: Fabrication and Characterization

Abstract

We developed the interpenetrating double network composite hydrogel based on poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and fish gelatin (FG) via thermal treatment and repeated freeze-thawing. A function of salicylic acid was incorporated into the hydrogel to improve its antibacterial properties. The color values, water contents, water evaporation rate, and swelling behavior were investigated. The drug-loading performance of the composite hydrogel was demonstrated by loading salicylic acid in various hydrogel systems. Moreover, the cumulative dissolution percentage of salicylic acid and the antibacterial activity of composite hydrogel were carried out. The results revealed that as FG concentration increased from 0% to 3.75% (w/v), gels changed from white to slight yellow and the swelling ratio increased from 54% to 83% (within 8 h). The presence of FG decreased the water content of gels which ranged from 86% to 89% and also decreased water evaporation rate. All gels presented the swelling index within 0.5–1.0, indicating a non-Fickian diffusion mechanism. The drug sustained dissolution behavior of pure PVA and composite hydrogel showed the same trend. Besides, the presence of the obvious bacteriostatic zones means that drug-loaded composite hydrogels have an effective antibacterial property. These results demonstrated that PVA/FG-based interpenetrating hydrogel is an appropriate biomaterial for drug-carrying wound dressing application.

Functional Properties of Two-Component Hydrogel Systems Based on Gelatin and Polyvinyl Alcohol—Experimental Studies Supported by Computational Analysis

“…Due to their favorable bio-application properties, research on hydrogel materials based on gelatin and PVA blends is widely reported in the literature. The articles, in particular, are concerned with using these materials for a variety of medical purposes, including tissue engineering [ 41 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 ], wound dressings [ 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 ], drug delivery systems [ 62 , 67 ], implants [ 68 ], and vascular grafts [ 69 ]. However, other fields of application have also been intensively explored, such as heavy metal removal [ 70 ], biodegradable food packaging [ 40 ], and enzyme immobilization [ 71 ].…”

“…It is important to emphasize that, in each case, the properties of gelatin/PVA hydrogels depend not only on the ratio of these components but also on the cross-linking method used and the final form/shape of the received material. These hydrogels can be produced with a variety of cross-linking methods based on using chemical agents (e.g., glutaraldehyde [ 41 , 59 ], sodium trimetaphosphate [ 69 ], genipin [ 60 ], and microbial transglutaminase [ 58 ]) or physical processes, such as irradiation [ 61 , 63 ] and repeated freeze-thaw cycles [ 58 , 59 , 64 , 65 , 68 ]. Furthermore, they can be obtained in the form of thin films [ 58 , 63 , 64 , 66 , 69 ], membranes [ 67 ], and three-dimensional porous constructs [ 41 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 65 , 68 , 69 ].…”

Cosmetic, Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Applications of Fish Gelatin/Hydrolysates

“…Salicylic acid was added to the hydrogel to exert antibacterial properties; it showed good sustained release properties verified by activity tests. These results demonstrated that PVA-fish gelatin based interpenetrating hydrogel is an appropriate biomaterial for drug-carrying wound dressing application [ 121 ]. In a similar study, a 3D-hydrogel patches were printed using fish gelatin and used for the local delivery of PEGylated liposomal doxorubicin.…”

Fabrication of fish gelatin / sodium alginate double network gels for encapsulation of probiotics

“…In the present work, sodium alginate and fish gelatin were employed to develop interpenetrating double network gels. Gelatin‐based hydrogels have been applied successfully for regenerative medicine, wound dressings, and drug delivery 20–22 . There are many animal sources of gelatins such as pig, cattle, and fish.…”