Release Characteristic and Antioxidant Activity of Gac Seeds (Momordica cochinchinesis) from Collagen- and Chitosan-Based Hydrogel Composite

Abstract

Chitosan- and collagen-based hydrogel composites were successfully prepared with 5–20 wt % gac loading, and this study explores their development and characterization, focusing on structural, thermal, swelling, antioxidant, and degradation properties for potential biomedical applications. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) confirmed a well-integrated hydrogel network at lower gac concentrations, while higher loading led to particle agglomeration. All characteristic peaks investigated by Fourier transform infrared spectrometer are typically present in the similar features, suggesting that no change of structure properties is observed. The hydrogel is thermally stable within 200 °C. The glass transition temperature and melting temperature are to be 50 and 90–110 °C. With the presence of gac, no change of thermal and morphological properties is observed. Swelling behavior indicated that higher gac concentrations reduced water absorption, likely due to hydrophobic interactions. In addition, water solubility and water vapor transmission rates are reduced when gac is loaded. The optimal data are 54.05% and 888.19 g/m2/h, respectively. The hydrogel composite exhibits a burst release at the initial 300 min. The degradation is also very fast. Also, it illustrates the antioxidant activity as observed by the DPPH and ABTS assays. It is remarkably noted that antioxidant biomaterials have applications in wound dressing.