Composites based on Poly (vinyl alcohol) Hydrogels for Wound Dressing

JIMENA SOLEDAD GONZALEZ; ADOLFO SEBASTIÁN MAIOLO; ALEJANDRA PONCE; VERA ALEJANDRA ALVAREZ

Mar del Plata

Congreso; XVIII congreso argentino de Bioingeniería. VII Jornadas de Ingeniería Clínica. 2º Taller de Órganos Artificiales, Biomateriales e Ingeniería de Tejidos; 2011

Wound dressing is an artificial skin that can meet the requirements such as higher vapor or gaspermeation and protection of wound from infection and dehydration. Poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA)hydrogel is one of the well-known polymer gel that due to its good biocompatibility, hydrophilicityand capability of swell in water or biological fluids has been used in several biomedical andpharmaceutical applications.The main objective of this work was to synthesize, in order to obtain wound dressing with betterproperties, composite-hydrogels. These composites were prepared using combination of:PVA/bentonite PVA/cellulose, PVA/Ag nanoparticles, PVA/rosemary extract and PVA /cloveextract, via the freezing/thawing method. For this purpose, chemical, thermal, swelling analyses andantimicrobial properties studies (using as indicator Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Listeriamonocytogenes) were carried out. The results showed that PVA/bentonite and PVA/cellulose hadthe higher antimicrobial behaviour. In addition, they exhibit the permeation and swellingcharacteristics suitable for use as wound dressing.Their function as barrier against microbe penetration showed that they could protect the wound fromfurther infection; hence it could accelerate the healing process of wound.