Marine-derived polymers are environmentally friendly
and sustainable
biomaterials that have structural similarities with the main components
of the extracellular matrix. Moreover, some marine polymers have specific
bioactivity that can be transferred to the systems made of these biomolecules.
Herein, we developed antibacterial adhesive films combining two marine
polysaccharides, namely, fucoidan and chitosan. Fucoidan was functionalized
with catechol groups (FCat) to improve its adhesive properties. This
modification enhanced also the fucoidan antibacterial properties:
while fucoidan is active against Gram-positive bacteria, FCat showed
bactericidal activity against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria.
To improve the processability and mechanical properties, FCat was
blended with chitosan and solvent-casted to obtain films. These films
exhibited an adhesion strength similar to the one of clinically used
natural adhesives and no cytotoxicity: fibroblastic cells attached
and remained viable on the films. Altogether our results demonstrated
that the developed antibacterial and adhesive films are a feasible
alternative of cytotoxic synthetic adhesives used for soft tissue
healing applications.
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