Poly(butylene succinate) fibrous dressings containing natural antimicrobial agents

Abstract

Poly(butylene succinate) (PBSU) is a biodegradable and biocompatible synthetic aliphatic polyester, which has been used extensively in packaging, catering and agriculture, and more recently in drug delivery and bone and cartilage repair. PBSU-based mats created by electrospinning show promise as wound dressing materials because of their good mechanical properties, high surface area-to-volume ratio and increased levels of porosity. In this work, we present the creation of antimicrobial PBSU fibrous mats through the incorporation of natural food grade agents via blend electrospinning. Three types of edible gums (namely arabic, karaya and tragacanth), two essential oils (coriander and lavender), and one free fatty acid (linoleic acid) were added to PBSU containing a chain extender and their effect on six clinically relevant pathogens was evaluated. Mats containing essential oils at the highest concentration studied (7% w/v) showed some antimicrobial behaviour against S. aureus, E. hirae and P. aeruginosa, whereas the incorporation of linoleic acid at both concentrations tested (3% and 5% w/v) gave a strong reaction against S. pyogenes. Gum arabic was the only gum that had a considerable impact on S. aureus. Furthermore, the three gums enhanced the mechanical properties of the polymer mats and brought them closer to those of the human skin, whilst all agents maintained the high biocompatibility of the PBSU mats when contacted with mouse fibroblasts. This work, for the first time, shows the great promise of PBSU blended fibres as a skin substitute and paves the way towards bioactive and cost effective wound dressings from renewable materials.

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“…The preparation process of composite scaffolds is depicted in Scheme 1a. A mixture of PCM lauric acid (LA, melting point 44 °C) 31 and supporting material poly(butylene succinate) (PBS, with high melting point and good biocompatibility) 45 was electrospun into PCFs. The core−shell of ZIF-8-coated PBS/LA fibers (referred to as PCF@ZIF-8) has been optimized to obtain a scaffold with suitable phase-change temperature and stable phase-change behavior.…”

Special Features of Polyester-Based Materials for Medical Applications

“…Nanofibers based on PBSu [ 15 ], PLCL/PCL [ 163 ], PLA/Hypericum perforatum oil (HPO) [ 21 ], PLA/GO/Q [ 162 ], PLA/silver (I)-diclofenac complex with (2-methylimidazole) [ 168 ], and PBAT/PCL [ 22 ] are few examples of polyester-based materials successfully obtained via the electrospinning method.…”

“…The choice of solvent is an important step in obtaining continuous and uniform fibers. The most common solvent mixtures used are chloroform:methanol, chloroform:ethanol, and dichloromethane (DCM):methanol at 90:10, 80:20, and 70:30 solvent ratios, respectively, for electrospinning of PBSu/food-grade agents [ 15 ]; DCM/N, N-dimethylformamide (DMF) at a ratio of 1:9 to obtain PLA/graphene oxide (GO)/quercetin (Q) electrospun scaffolds [ 162 ]; and DCM/DMF (7:3, v / v ) and 1,1,1,3,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP)/ethanol (7:3, v / v ) for preparing encapsulated antimicrobial agents in PLA/PEO/PVP matrices [ 16 ]. The addition of acetic acid to the mixture of chloroform:ethanol to dissolve the PLCL/PCL copolymer prevented the formation of beads, and led to fibers with diameters in the range of 200 nm to 2.8 µm [ 163 ].…”

“…It can be set from the volume of solution, as the thickness of the fabric can be ∼224 µm [ 21 ]. Innovative wound dressings made from renewable materials with proper mechanical properties were created by using a synthetic aliphatic polyester, PBSu, in the presence of a chain extender, diisocyanahexane (DCH), and natural food-grade components such as edible gums, essential oils, and free fatty acids by the electrospinning technique [ 15 ].…”

“…Wound-dressing materials should have important requirements related to their biocompatibility [ 15 ], wound healing [ 16 ], wound adhesion [ 17 , 18 ], maintenance of wound moisture [ 19 , 20 ], inhibition of the growth of bacteria [ 15 , 21 , 22 ], removal of excess exudates, and reductions in the dressing frequency [ 23 , 24 ].…”