Fabrication of honey-loaded ethylcellulose/gum tragacanth nanofibers as an effective antibacterial wound dressing

Recently, using antibiotic-free nanofibrous mats in wound healing has significant attention for infection cure after tissue injuries as a result of no drug resistance. Honey is a natural wound-healing agent that has been reintroduced to clinical wound treatment because of its good antioxidant and antibacterial properties. In this work, honey in various blending ratios was incorporated into the ethylcellulose (EC)/gum tragacanth (GT) electrospun nanofibrous (EGH NF) mat to develop an effective wound covering biomaterial. The physicochemical and biological characteristics of fabricated EGH NFs were evaluated by several methods. The effect of honey and the honey concentration enhancement (from 5 wt% to 20 wt%) was studied on the various properties of the NFs. The obtained results presented suitable antibacterial properties, enhanced antioxidant activity, improved degradation ability, increased mechanical features, proper cell growth, attachment, and proliferation against NIH-3 T3 fibroblast cells. The cytotoxicity assay showed the biocompatibility and non-cytotoxicity of the developed NF mats. Therefore, these achieved results suggested that the developed EGH NFs can be a promising candidate for wound dressing applications.

Automated summary

The study showed that blending honey with ethylcellulose/gum tragacanth electrospun nanofibrous mats resulted in good antibacterial properties, enhanced antioxidant activity, improved degradation ability, increased mechanical features, and promoted cell growth and proliferation, showing good compatibility and non-cytotoxicity against NIH-3 T3 fibroblast cells. These results suggest that the developed EGH NFs hold promise for wound dressing applications.