Designing and evaluation of mupirocin-bFGF co-loaded biodegradable antimicrobial gelatin-chitosan sponge for topical wound management in rat model

Wound dressings help to prevent the wound from being infected and allow gaseous exchange, along with absorbing excessive wound exudates. Open wounds are very prone to bacterial infection, mostly Staphylococcus aureus may hinder the healing rate. Therefore, a fast, safe, effective, biodegradable antimicrobial wound dressing material needs to be developed. In this research, a basic fibroblast growth factor and mupirocin co-loaded biodegradable polymeric sponge was developed and evaluated for wound dressing applications.
An Antimicrobial gelatin-chitosan sponge was prepared by the surfactant foaming method. Different combinations were prepared and evaluated for water uptake, digestibility, porosity, folding endurance, morphology, FT-IR analysis, drug-loading, entrapment efficiency, in-vitro drug release, antimicrobial study, in-vivo study using rat excision model, along with histological analysis.
The Developed sponge was found with satisfactory water uptake capacity (76.96 ± 0.79%), porosity (71.64 ± 0.7), and folding endurance (251.33 ± 4.33%), and was completely digested. Microscopy confirms the internal porous structure. Drug loading and entrapment efficiency of the final formulation were found to be 1.859 ± 0.024% and 92.95 ± 1.09%, respectively. The formulation releases 88.018 ± 3.12% mupirocin in 5 hours and best fitted in the Korsmeyer-Peppas kinetic model with a non-Fickian transport mechanism. Antimicrobial studies show a zone of inhibition of 37±2.65 mm. The wound healing study and histological studies of the formulation showed accelerated wound contraction and healing efficacy.
Medicated sponge for fast wound treatment with reduced scar: Open wounds generally cause bleeding and produce wound fluids. These open wounds are easily infected by bacteria and slow down healing. An absorbable biodegradable medicated sponge can be used to treat open wounds. It can soak up wound fluids by many times its own weight. The medicated sponge helps to stop bleeding, reduce infection risk, and speed up healing. The direct benefits of sponges are delivering medicines that cannot be taken orally. Here, the sponge contains two medicines: Mupirocin, which is an antimicrobial that kills bacteria, and bFGF is basic fibroblast growth factor that helps new tissue to grow, reduce scarring. This sponge is developed from gelatin and chitosan, which makes it biodegradable in nature. Mupirocin in the sponge prevents bacterial infection most effectively against Staphylococcus aureus, a common cause of wound infection. Different tests were done to check the quality of the developed sponge. Tests show it has very good antimicrobial activity against Staphylococcus aureus. The animal studies were reported for accelerated wound healing and tissue regeneration. In rats, the sponge has shown good wound healing with negligible scar.