Tailoring the properties of PVA/HPC/BSA hydrogels for wound dressing applications

Physical hydrogels were obtained by successive freezing/thawing of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) / hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC) solutions, adding different amounts of bovine serum albumin (BSA), in presence of reduced glutathione. The morphological and structural characteristics of networks as well as their viscoelastic properties were investigated by SEM, FTIR and rheology, respectively. Due to the interconnected porous structure (average pore size between 20.7 μm and 26.7 μm), PVA/HPC/BSA hydrogels showed excellent hydrophilicity and high swelling degree values in buffer solutions (between 1000% and 1250%). For BSA content lower than 50% in the polymer network, the hydrogels present good stability in buffer solution. In addition, the BSA based hydrogels exhibited the ability to load and release small drug molecules (neomycin trisulfate salt hydrate) at pH = 7.4. The PVA/HPC/BSA hydrogels are suitable materials for wound dressing applications.