Flexible agar-sericin hydrogel film dressing for chronic wounds

Chronic wounds suffer impaired healing that results in psychological effect and morbity in addition to economic burden on the patient. These wounds are characterized by prolonged inflammatory phase, poor collagen production, hampered angiogenesis, upregulation in reactive oxygen species (ROS) and matrix metalloproteases (MMP). In the current work, three different concentrations (03:01, 05:01 and 10:01) of flexible agar-sericin-glycerol hydrogel films with sericin as minor component were fabricated to improve collagen production and capture free radical species to expediate chronic wound healing. The films exhibited improved collagen production with a p-value ≤ 0.001 for all the three concentrations. With regards to free radical scavenging, the 03:01 and 05:01 films exhibited improved performance with a p-value ≤ 0.01, while, 10:01 film showed improvement with a p-value ≤ 0.05. This was confirmed by Sirius red staining and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) assay. In addition, these films showed an adequate tensile strength of around 35 MPa with elongation at break higher than 25%. The as cast films exhibited satisfactory swelling behavior of around 320% in simulated wound fluid (SWF).