Electrospinning of polyvinyl alcohol/chitosan/hyaluronic acid nanofiber containing growth hormone and its release investigations

A wound is defined as an interruption in the integrity of skin and mucus tissue. There are challenges in the treatment of some lesions, such as diabetic ulcers, burn injuries and pressure ulcers. Wound dressing is one of the new methods used to treat these types of ulcers. Nanofibers are very suitable structures for wound healing due to their prevention of pathogen penetration into the wound environment and providing sufficient gaseous exchange, absorption of wound secretions and controlled release of the drug to the site of damage. These nanofibers can carry therapeutic proteins such as the human growth hormone (hGH). Resulting system provides sustained delivery of hGH, thereby achieving sustained therapeutic concentrations of these agents in the blood. Because of the biocompatibility, biodegradability, nonimmunological and nontoxic nature of polyvinyl alcohol, chitosan and hyaluronic acid, they were used to prepare nanofibers via the electrospinning method. In order to evaluate stability of the nanofibers, they were cross-linked with glutaraldehyde and examined with respect to morphology and size before and after cross-linking using SEM. Nanofiber characteristics such as hydrophilicity, cytotoxicity, and the manner of release were tested by carrying out water contact angle, MTT and ELISA test. Diameters of the nanofibers were 261 +/- 17 and 288 +/- 20 nm before and after cross-linking, respectively, and the results of investigating hydrophilicity at 2 and 5 seconds demonstrated angles of 57.8 and 34.7 degrees respectively, thus indicating that the nanofibers are hydrophilic. The MTT test showed that nanofibers do not have any toxicity towards skin fibroblasts. It was also shown that nanofibers provide a sustained release mechanism after an initial burst release, so that after 2 days, 64% of the growth hormone is released from the nanofibers.

Automated summary

Nanofibers prepared via electrospinning method are a new treatment method for difficult-to-heal wounds, providing hydrophilic and non-toxic characteristics with sustained release of therapeutic proteins.