UV-Crosslinked Electrospun Zein/PEO Fibroporous Membranes for Wound Dressing

Abstract

Electrospun zein membranes are suitable for various biomedical applications. A UV-crosslinked electrospun membrane of a zein/PEO blend for wound healing application was explored in this work. The improvement in mechanical properties of the membrane after UV crosslinking was attributed to the change in protein conformation from an α-helix to a β-sheet. The circular dichroism (CD) spectra and FTIR spectra confirmed this conformational change. XRD analysis was shown to prove the amorphous nature of polymer blends with specific broad peaks at 2θ = 9° and 20°. The water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) of the membrane was found to be in the range of 1500–2000 g m–2 day–1, which was well suited with that of commercially available wound dressing material. Enough number of available functional groups like thiol, amino, and hydroxyl groups supplement a blood clotting index (BCI) to the matrix, causing 99% BCI within 4 min. A 91% cell viability result in the MTT assay with human dermal fibroblast cells confirmed the noncytotoxicity of the membrane. Tripeptides produced after the thermolysin-based hydrolysis of zein caused inhibition of TGF β1 expression and thus increased fibroblast and collagen production. The membrane stimulated 54% more collagen production compared to control cells at day 2 and caused 84% wound closure in human dermal fibroblast cells, which were desirable index markers of a potential wound care material.

Hybrid Films Prepared from a Combination of Electrospinning and Casting for Offering a Dual-Phase Drug Release

“…Fortunately, one of the most important trends in the development of electrospinning is to combine itself with traditional materials production and transformation methods to take advantages of the unique properties of nanofibers [ 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 ]. Thus, in this research, a facile single-fluid blending electrospinning process was combined with the casting film method to fabricate a medicated double-layer hybrid for providing a dual-phase drug controlled release profile.…”

Design and evaluation of propranolol hydrochloride loaded thiolated Zein/PEO electrospun fibrous matrix for transmucosal drug delivery

“…A 100 N load cell was used and the testing was performed with 18 mm min −1 crosshead speed. 26 Six replicates were tested for each sample. Tensile strength, Young's modulus, and elongation at break (%) were assessed from the obtained stress–strain curve.…”

“…Surendranath et al have proposed a post-electrospinning UV-mediated crosslinking for the zein/PEO blend to achieve mechanical stability and water resistance. 26 Hence, this work proposes modifying zein with cysteine molecules to functionalize the polymer with thiol residues and blend it with PEO. The increased concentration of thiol triggers increased mucoadhesion and is expected to improve the water-resistance of zein too.…”

Electrospun Mucoadhesive Zein/PVP Fibroporous Membrane for Transepithelial Delivery of Propranolol Hydrochloride

“…3 mL of uncrosslinked and thermally crosslinked matrix solutions was prepared in ethanol and scanned within the range of 200–400 nm. The protein secondary structure details were obtained through BeStsel (Beta Structure Selection) portal …”

“…The protein secondary structure details were obtained through BeStsel (Beta Structure Selection) portal. 36 2.2.7. % Swelling.…”