Development of hydrogel containing bacterial cellulose for wound dressing application

Abstract

This study aims to develop hydrogel containing bacterial cellulose (BC) for wound dressing application. Hydrogels were prepared by dispersing BC in 40 %w/w polyethylene glycol 1500 (PEG 1500) solution after that, mixed with sodium alginate (A) solution or pectin (P) solution or sodium alginate and pectin solution, fabricated via a physical crosslinking technique using 3 %w/v calcium chloride (CaCl2) solution, and then incorporated with polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB), which is an effective antimicrobial drug by immersion technique. After hydrogel preparation, the physicochemical properties of all hydrogel formulations were investigated. Our results found that hydrogel incorporated sodium alginate shrunk when crosslinking with CaCl2 solution made hydrogel composites denser resulting in increasing puncture strength, and hydrogel incorporated sodium alginate without PHMB had fluff surface unlike the other formulations, that had smooth surface. Moreover, the formulations with PHMB performed better physicochemical properties than the hydrogels without PHMB. Interestingly, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) revealed the possible interaction between PHMB and the carboxylic group of sodium alginate and pectin. BC/A-PHMB hydrogel performed suitable mechanical strength, fluid uptake ability, water retention property, drug content, high integrity value, and maximum swelling degree. Additionally, in vitro cell cytotoxicity of BC/A-PHMB hydrogel revealed high biocompatibility with human keratinocyte cell line (HaCaT) and possessed prolong released of PHMB in Tris-HCl buffer pH 7.4, while rapid release in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) pH 7.4 since sodium alginate in BC/A-PHMB can bind to phosphate ion in PBS resulting in PHMB release. Moreover, BC/A-PHMB hydrogel possessed excellent anti-bacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In conclusion, BC/A-PHMB hydrogel could be a potential dual crosslinked ion-based hydrogel for modern wound dressing with excellent anti-bacterial activity.