Biodegradable Electrospun Nonwovens Releasing Propolis as a Promising Dressing Material for Burn Wound Treatment

Abstract

The selection of dressing is crucial for the wound healing process. Traditional dressings protect against contamination and mechanical damage of an injured tissue. Alternatives for standard dressings are regenerating systems containing a polymer with an incorporated active compound. The aim of this research was to obtain a biodegradable wound dressing releasing propolis in a controlled manner throughout the healing process. Dressings were obtained by electrospinning a poly(lactide-co-glycolide) copolymer (PLGA) and propolis solution. The experiment consisted of in vitro drug release studies and in vivo macroscopic treatment evaluation. In in vitro studies released active compounds, the morphology of nonwovens, chemical composition changes of polymeric material during degradation process, weight loss and water absorption were determined. For in vivo research, four domestic pigs, were used. The 21-day experiment consisted of observation of healing third-degree burn wounds supplied with PLGA 85/15 nonwovens without active compound, with 5 wt % and 10 wt % of propolis, and wounds rinsed with NaCl. The in vitro experiment showed that controlling the molar ratio of lactidyl to glycolidyl units in the PLGA copolymer gives the opportunity to change the release profile of propolis from the nonwoven. The in vivo research showed that PLGA nonwovens with propolis may be a promising dressing material in the treatment of severe burn wounds.

Bee Venom in Wound Healing

“…The presented molecular mechanisms confirm that bee venom accelerates the wound healing process. In the light of the information presented, it will be justified to conduct research on the possibility of using a regenerative system containing a polymer with bee venom, similarly to the case of a polymer dressing with propolis [ 72 , 73 ]. Further studies are needed to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of treating wounds with bee venom.…”

Green Approach to Develop Bee Pollen-Loaded Alginate Based Nanofibrous Mat

“…In recent years, many researchers have become interested in developing bionanomaterials using bee products [ 4 ]. The use of bee products, such as honey [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 ] and propolis [ 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ], for developing nanofibrous biomedical applications has been studied extensively. Bee pollen is another bee product that may well influence human health.…”

Advances in the use of electrospinning as a promising technique for obtaining nanofibers to guide epithelial wound healing in diabetics—Mini‐review

“…Among the natural polymers, polysaccharides, proteins, cellulose, chitosan, and hyaluronic acid (HA) among others can be mentioned 97–101 . Among the synthetic polymers, in turn, the ones that are gaining more attention are poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), poly(ε‐caprolactone) (PCL), and copolymers such as poly(L‐lactide‐co‐caprolactone) (PCLA) and poly(lactic‐co‐glycolic acid) (PLGA) 102–106 . Several system compositions have been evaluated to obtain electrospun skin regeneration scaffolds for wounds in diabetics, a summary of the main components found in the literature is summarized in Table 3.…”