Antioxidant, antibacterial, water binding capacity and mechanical behavior of gelatin-ferula oil film as a wound dressing material

Abstract

Background: Development of biodegradable and biocompatible films based on protein polymer with strong antioxidant and antibacterial activities has gradually obtained extensive concern in the world. In this study, the improvement of gelatin film properties incorporated with Ferula assa-foetida essential oil (FAO) as a potential antioxidant/antibacterial wound dressing film was investigated. Materials and Methods: Gelatin films were prepared from gelatin solutions (10% w/v) containing different concentration of FAO. The effect of FAO addition on water solubility, water swelling, water vapor permeability, mechanical behavior, light barrier properties as well as antioxidant and antibacterial activities of the films were examined. Results: Water solubility, water swelling and water vapor permeability for pure gelatin films were 29 ± 1.6%, 396 ± 8%, 0.23 ± 0.018 g.mm/m2.h, respectively. Incorporation of FAO into gelatin films caused a significant decrease in swelling and increase in solubility and water vapor permeability. Tensile strength, elastic modulus and elongation at break for pure gelatin films were 4.2 ± 0.4 MPa, 5.8 ± 4.2 MPa, 128 ± 8 %, respectively. Incorporation of FAO into gelatin films caused a significant decrease in tensile strength and elastic modulus and increase in elongation at break of the films. Gelatin film showed UV-visible light absorbance ranging from 280 to 480 nm with maximum absorbance at 420 nm. Gelatin/FAO films also exhibited excellent antioxidant ad antimicrobial activities. Conclusions: Our results suggested that gelatin/FAO films could be used as active films due to their excellent antioxidant and antimicrobial features for different biomedical applications including wound-dressing materials.[GMJ.2015;4(2):103-14].