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Abstract

Sericin is a globular protein obtained from degumming of silk cocoon in the silk reeling process. The sericin film was synthesized for the application of antibacterial wound dressing, but it has a low physical property, hence the synthetic polymer was used in the synthesis of highly stable biocompatible film. The PVA based sericin film was prepared by solvent casting method by the addition of synthetic polymers-polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) to give the mechanical stability and the glycerol was added as a plasticizer. The characterization of PVA based sericin film for its antibacterial properties and the swelling ratio was evaluated. The PVA based sericin film showed significant antibacterial activity for wound pathogenic bacteria such as E. coli, S. aureus, K. pneumoniae, P. aeruginosa, and Proteus species and the swelling ratio of the film was 70% which indicates that the sericin has high moisture holding capacity which improves the wound healing process. The sericin film was also proved that it was biocompatible for biomedical applications. INTRODUCTION: Globally, wound infection becomes a major problem due to the resistance developed by the microorganisms. In the United States, every year approximately 5 lakhs people are infected by wound infection among 27 million surgeries. Roy et al., 1 stated that in Bangladesh more than 50% of people are affected by wound infection, among which 10-25% of postoperative infection. The following organisms mainly caused the wound infection: Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, Enterococci, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Proteus species and Pseudomonas aeruginosa 2. It was reported that 62.9% of Gram-positive microorganisms and 37.1% of Gram-negative microorganisms were isolated 1 .