Superhydrophobic hierarchical fiber/bead composite membranes for efficient treatment of burns

Abstract

One of the current challenges in burn wound care is the development of multifunctional dressings that can protect the wound from bacteria or organisms and promote skin regeneration and tissue reconstitution. To this end, we report the design and fabrication of a composite electrospun membrane, comprised of electrospun polylactide: poly(vinyl pyrrolidone)/polylactide:poly(ethylene glycol) (PLA:PVP/PLA:PEG) core/shell fibers loaded with bioactive agents, as a functionally integrated wound dressing for efficient burns treatment. Different mass ratios of PLA:PVP in the shell were screened to optimize mechanical, physicochemical, and biological properties, in addition to controlled release profiles of loaded antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) from the fibers for desirable antibacterial activity. Fibroblasts were shown to readily adhere and proliferate when cultured on the membrane, indicating good in vitro cytocompatibility. The introduction of PLA beads by electrospraying on one side of the membrane resulted in biomimetic micro-nanostructures similar to those of lotus leaves. This designer structure rendered the composite membranes with superhydrophobic property to inhibit the adhesion/spreading of exogenous bacteria and other microbes. The administration of the resulting composite fibrous membrane on burnt skin in an infected rat model led to faster healing than a conventional product (sterile silicone membrane) and control detailed herein. These composite fibrous membranes loaded with bioactive drugs provide an integrated strategy for promoting burn wound healing and skin regeneration.

Electrospun Nanofibrous Materials for Wound Healing

“…Among the synthetic polymers, poly(glycolic acid) (PGA), poly(lactic acid) (PLA), poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), and polycaprolactone (PCL) have been widely employed in biomedical application due to their desirable biodegradability and easy processability [59,60]. Typically, several hydrophilic polymers such as poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) have been incorporated with growth factors and drugs for preparing electrospun wound dressing [61,62]. By combining the advantages of natural and synthetic polymers, many efforts have been devoted to develop composite nanofiber membranes with both excellent bioactivity and tailored mechanical properties [63,64].…”

Electrospinning Technique as a Powerful Tool for the Design of Superhydrophobic Surfaces

“…The resultant electrospun fibers exhibit both superhydrophobic and oleophobic behaviors, and these coaxial fibers also preserve the core material properties as demonstrated with mechanical tensile tests. The use of coaxial electrospinning is also used in [52] where the design and fabrication of a composite electrospun membrane composed of polylactide:poly(vinyl pyrrolidone)/polylactide:poly(ethylene glycol) (PLA:PVP/PLA:PEG) core shell fibers loaded with bioactive agents, as functionally integrated wound dressing for efficient burn treatments. In addition, the electrospinning can be easily combined with other deposition techniques as it can be appreciated in [53].…”

Facile design and development of nano-clustery graphene-based macromolecular protein hydrogel loaded with ciprofloxacin to antibacterial improvement for the treatment of burn wound injury

“…Inflammation, cell proliferation, and subsequent tissue formation are complex processes that the bacterial invasion mainly caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa may delay the repairing and reconstructing burnt wounds [ 3 ]. To avoid these complications, we have to develop multifunctional antibiotics to protect the wound from an invasion of microorganisms to reduce infection, promote skin regeneration and tissue re-formation [ 4 ].…”