Preparation and performance evaluations of electrospun poly(ε‐caprolactone), poly(lactic acid), and their hybrid (50/50) nanofibrous mats containing thymol as an herbal drug for effective wound healing

Abstract

The use of herbal drugs as biocompatible and nontoxic drugs without special side effects in wound dressings are highly favored compared to that of chemical and synthetic drugs. In this study, the properties and performance of electrospun poly(ε‐caprolactone) (PCL), poly(lactic acid) (PLA), and their 50/50 hybrid nanofibrous mats containing the herbal drug thymol (1.2% v/v) as wound dressings were investigated. The optimized solution concentrations of PCL (12% w/v) and PLA (3% w/v) in chloroform/dimethylformamide (7:3) for electrospinning were determined with viscometry and scanning electron microscopy studies to obtain smooth and beadless nanofibers. The results of the drug‐release behavior along with swelling tests showed that the electrospun 50/50 PCL/PLA hybrid nanofibers had the highest level of drug release (∼ 72%) compared with the PCL and PLA nanofibrous samples. The release kinetics of thymol from PCL, PLA, and 50/50 PCL/PLA hybrid nanofibrous mats were studied by the Peppas equation and the zero‐order, first‐order, Higuchi, and Hixon–Crowell models. Antibacterial evaluations showed that the electrospun 50/50 PCL/PLA hybrid nanofibrous samples containing thymol had satisfactory effects on Staphylococcus aureus compared with Escherichia coli bacteria during the treatment periods. In vivo rat wound‐healing and histological performance observations of thymol‐loaded 50/50 PCL/PLA nanofibrous mats, the commercial wound dressing Comfeel Plus, and gauze bandages (control) after 14‐day post‐treatment periods were evaluated. The results reveal that the electrospun 50/50 PCL/PLA hybrid nanofibers containing thymol had a remarkable wound‐closure percentage of about 92.5% after a period of 14 days. Finally, the crystallinity and thermal behavior of the electrospun 50/50 PCL/PLA hybrid nanofibrous mats with and without thymol were studied by differential scanning calorimetry. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013

Protein release from electrospun nonwovens: Improving the release characteristics through rational combination of polyester blend matrices with polidocanol

“…The fraction of solventaccessible PD increases with increasing PD content because of (a) geometrical consideration similar to the release of lysozyme at increasing lysozyme loading (Puhl et al, 2014) and (b) increased swelling of the matrix (Fig. 4B), resulting in improved water penetration into the polymer matrix (Dordunoo et al, 1997;Karami et al, 2013). However, at a higher PD content of 50% (PCL/ PD50) relative release was reduced to 80.5 AE 5.7% compared to almost complete release observed with PCL/PD20.…”

“…6A). To explain these observations a release model based on (a) PD-induced desorption of lysozyme from the polymer matrix and (b) increased matrix swelling with increasing PD content and thus a diffusion controlled mechanism is proposed (Karami et al, 2013;Yang et al, 2001). Recently, Srikar et al (2008) reported a model describing the release of hydrophilic drugs from electrospun, slowly degrading polymer matrices.…”

Microencapsulation of essential oils with biodegradable polymeric carriers for cosmetic applications

“…In fact, the percentage of polar compounds of oil can favor the entrapment of aqueous phase into de microcapsules during the coacervation process and consequently slows down its diffusion [119]. Nevertheless, the release rate profiles of thymol from the PCL (poly(e-caprolactone)), PLA, and 50/50 hybrid nanofibrous samples, performed by Karami et al [128] point out a bi-phasic release profiles. The Fickian diffusion was the dominant mechanism of thymol release from the polymeric matrices.…”

Antifungal Poly(lactic acid) Films Containing Thymol and Carvone

“…The effect of antifungal contents on gas permeability of the films was more pronounced when increasing the concentration of thymol to 20 %. This could be because thymol acted as a plasticizer and rearranged the polymer chains layers [16] subsequently lower the degree of crystallinity and increased the free volume in the polymer matrix.…”