An in vitro and in vivo study of PCL/chitosan electrospun mat on polyurethane/propolis foam as a bilayer wound dressing

Abstract

In the current study, we fabricated a bilayer wound dressing consisting of an electrospun poly-ε-caprolactone/chitosan (PCL/CS) fibrous mat as the sublayer and a polyurethane (PU) foam coated with ethanolic extract of propolis (EEP) as the top layer. By blending the solutions of PCL and CS, we fabricated an electrospun mat consisting of bead-free and uniform nanofibers with enhanced hydrophilicity, swelling ratio, and degradation properties. To further enhance the mechanical and antibacterial properties, we electrospun the PCL/CS solution on a PU foam coated with EEP to fabricate the PCL/CS-PU/EEP bilayer wound dressing. Furthermore, the PCL/CS-PU/EEP bilayer wound dressing demonstrated enhanced cell compatibility and healing properties through in vitro and in vivo studies. Therefore, the PCL/CS-PU/EEP bilayer wound dressing offers great potential to be used as a wound dressing because of its suitable mechanical properties, swelling profile, antibacterial activity, biocompatibility, and wound healing properties.

Keywords: Chitosan; Electrospinning; Skin repair; Wound dressing; propolis.