Physicochemical Investigations of Chitosan-Based Hydrogels Containing Aloe Vera Designed for Biomedical Use

Abstract

<jats:p>In this work, synthesis and investigations on chitosan-based hydrogels modified with Aloe vera juice are presented. These materials were synthesized by UV radiation. Investigations involved analysis of chemical structure by FTIR spectroscopy, sorption properties in physiological liquids, strength properties by texture analyzer, surface topography by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM technique), and in vitro cytotoxicity by MTT test using L929 murine fibroblasts. Particular attention was focused both on determining the impact of the amount and the molecular weight of the crosslinker used for the synthesis as well as on the introduced additive on the properties of hydrogels. It was proven that modified hydrogels exhibited higher swelling ability. Introduced additive affected the tensile strength of hydrogels—modified materials showed 23% higher elongation. The greater amount of the crosslinker used in the synthesis, the more compact the structure, leading to the lower elasticity and lower sorption of hydrogels was reported. Above 95%, murine fibroblasts remained viable after 24 h incubation with hydrogels. It indicates that tested materials did not exhibit cytotoxicity toward these lines. Additionally, materials with Aloe vera juice were characterized by lower surface roughness. Conducted investigations allowed us to state that such modified hydrogels may be considered as useful for biomedical purposes.</jats:p>

Physicochemical Characteristics of Chitosan-Based Hydrogels Containing Albumin Particles and Aloe vera Juice as Transdermal Systems Functionalized in the Viewpoint of Potential Biomedical Applications

“…The absorption bands observed on the FT-IR spectra derive mainly from bonds occurring in the structure of chitosan, which is a main component of the tested hydrogel matrices [ 26 ]. For example, the band at a wavelength of approximately 2872 cm −1 may be assigned to the deformation vibrations of the C-H bond.…”

“…The synthesis methodology of the hydrogels as well as the selection of the amount of the individual reagents included in the final materials were presented in detail in our previous works [ 26 , 27 ]. In brief, to start, 1.0% chitosan solution in 0.05% acetic acid solution (the base solution) was prepared.…”

Physicochemical and Functional Properties of Active Fish Gelatin-Based Edible Films Added with Aloe Vera Gel

“…The FTIR analysis of AV revealed the polar nature of the gel as four main functional groups (OH, CO, CH 3 and COO) were predominant in the AV spectrum ( Figure 1 ). The wide band observed in the range of 3000–3676 cm −1 was related to the stretching vibration of phenolic hydroxyl groups such as flavonoids and anthraquinones, among others [ 15 , 45 , 46 ]. The band observed approximately at 2920 cm −1 is characteristic of aliphatic groups (–CH 2 and –CH 3 ) whereas the C=O stretching vibrations of carbonyl groups of polysaccharides and gelatin matrix appeared at 1742 cm −1 [ 46 ].…”

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) on Biopolymers and Hydrogels for Biotechnological Applications—Possibilities and Limits

“…Reports about the AFM measurements on chitosan hydrogels can be found much more often in the literature. Besides the morphological investigations [ 186 , 187 , 188 ], there are also investigations of the mechanical properties of chitosan hydrogels using force-distance curves to evaluate the elastic modulus [ 189 ] as well as PeakForce QNM measurements [ 190 ]. Phase images were used to investigate the co-existence of two phases in chitosan/carboxymethylcellulose hydrogels [ 191 ].…”