Anthocyanin/Honey-Incorporated Alginate Hydrogel as a Bio-Based pH-Responsive/Antibacterial/Antioxidant Wound Dressing

Infection is a major problem that increases the normal pH of the wound bed and interferes with wound healing. Natural biomaterials can serve as a suitable environment to acquire a great practical effect on the healing process. In this context, anthocyanin-rich red cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata F. rubra) extract and honey-loaded alginate hydrogel was fabricated using calcium chloride as a crosslinking agent. The pH sensitivity of anthocyanins can be used as an indicator to monitor possible infection of the wound, while honey would promote the healing process by its intrinsic properties. The mechanical properties of the hydrogel film samples showed that honey acts as a plasticizer and that increasing the incorporation from 200% to 400% enhances the tensile strength from 3.22 to 6.15 MPa and elongation at break from 0.69% to 4.75%. Moreover, a water absorption and retention study showed that the hydrogel film is able to absorb about 250% water after 50 min and retain 40% of its absorbed water after 12 h. The disk diffusion test showed favorable antibacterial activity of the honey-loaded hydrogel against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, respectively. In addition, the incorporation of honey significantly improved the mechanical properties of the hydrogel. 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay proved the antioxidant activity of the honey and anthocyanin-containing hydrogel samples with more than 95% DPPH scavenging efficiency after 3 h. The pH-dependent property of the samples was investigated and recorded by observing the color change at different pH values of 4, 7, and 9 using different buffers. The result revealed a promising color change from red at pH = 4 to blue at pH = 7 and purple at pH = 9. An in vitro cell culture study of the samples using L929 mouse fibroblast cells showed excellent biocompatibility with significant increase in cell proliferation. Overall, this study provides a promising start and an antibacterial/antioxidant hydrogel with great potential to meet wound-dressing requirements.