Recent studies in wound dressing applications offer new therapies and promote wound healing process. The aim of this study was to develop Hypericum perforatum (St John's Wort) oil incorporated chitosan films for wound dressing applications. H. perforatum oil as a potential therapeutic agent was encapsulated in chitosan film to achieve a better wound dressing material. Oil incorporated chitosan films were successfully prepared by solvent casting method in different oil concentrations (0.25-1.5%v/v). Water vapor permeability (WVP), mechanical test, swelling behavior and surface hydrophobicity were performed in order to characterize the prepared films. Antimicrobial test was performed by disc diffusion method and the growth inhibition effects of the films including different amount of H. perforatum oil were investigated on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. WVP increased with oil incorporation and the highest value was obtained for 0.25% oil concentration.The highest strain value was obtained in 0.25% oil content films although tensile stress decreased with increasing oil content. H. perforatum oil incorporated films had antimicrobial effect on both microorganisms. Chitosan based films had no cytotoxic effects on NIH3T3fibroblast cells and provided a good surface for cell attachment and proliferation. The results showed that the H. perforatum incorporated chitosan films seems to be a potential and novel biomaterial for wound healing applications.
Keywords: Antimicrobial activity; Cell attachment; Chitosan; H. perforatum; Wound dressing.
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