Antimicrobial and wound healing properties of cefazolin sodium loaded chitosan-polyethylene oxide nanofibrous mats

Antimicrobial electrospun chitosan–polyethylene oxide (CS-PEO) nanofibrous mats containing cefazolin, fumed silica (F. silica) and cefazolin-loaded fumed silica nanoparticles (NPs) were produced for biomedical applications. Both of the CS-PEO mats containing 2.5% cefazolin and 1% F. silica-0.50% cefazolin showed 100% bactericidal activities against both S. aureus and E. coli bacteria. The cefazolin release from mats was sharply increased within first 24 and 6 hours for the CS-PEO mats including 2.5% cefazolin and 1% F. silica-0.50% cefazolin but after that the drug was released very slowly. The improved hydrophilicity, higher tensile strength and sustained drug release for CS-PEO-1% F. silica-0.50% cefazolin suggested that it was the best nanocomposite tissue/device for biomedical applications among the mats CS-PEO-2.5% cefazolin and CS-PEO-1% F. silica. The wound healing ability of the CS-PEO-F. silica-cefazolin mat was evaluated on the wounded skins of the female Wistar rats and it was shown that the wounded skins of the rats were almost entirely healed after ten days using this mat as a wound dressing scaffold.

Keywords:

Chitosan–polyethylene oxide , Electrospinning , Nanofibrous mat , Wound healing , Animal model , Antimicrobial activity