Fabrication of Wound Dressing Cotton Nano-Composite Coated with Tragacanth/Polyvinyl Alcohol: Characterization and In Vitro Studies

Wound dressing made from biomaterials has been illustrated promising to treat subcutaneous injuries. The paper presents a novel method for the in situ synthesis of silver nanoparticle on cotton fabric with reducing agent and in vitro characterization of tragacanth/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) wound dressing with curcumin. For synthesizing the wound dressings, nanosilver was used as the carrier for controlled release of curcumin and then coated, along with tragacanth/PVA hydrogels, on the cotton fabric that was used to provide mechanical support to the dressing. For characterizing the wound dressings, scanning electron microscope (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), contact angle measurement were performed. Also, these wound dressings were evaluated in vitro for drug release, cell culture and MTT analysis. Our results showed that the addition of curcumin could decrease the cell cytotoxicity, thus improving cell viability of the wound dressings. The measurements of contact angle indicated that with the addition of the PVA and tragacanth, the hydrophobicity of the wound dressing could be improved, while the SEM results illustrate the presence of the in situ synthesized coated nanosilver in the dressings. The loading efficiency on the fabric was around 85% and the in-vitro release profile of curcumin showed 42% burst release. Taken together, this study illustrates that fabricated wound dressing composite have the appropriate swelling capacity, mechanical and biological properties for wound healing.