Carica papaya loaded poly (vinyl alcohol)-gelatin nanofibrous scaffold for potential application in wound dressing

Abstract

Bioactive polymers are highly used polymers for preparing electrospun nanofiber based scaffold in the field of wound dressing to treat chronic non-healing wounds. Here, we report, the fabrication and evaluation of Carica papaya incorporated poly (vinyl) alcohol (PVA) blended gelatin nanofibers. PVA/Gelatin/Carica papaya nanofibrous scaffold was fabricated by electrospinning method. The obtained nanofibrous scaffold was characterized by using various analytical techniques such as FTIR, XRD, TEM, FESEM, AFM, and TGA. The average diameter of these nanofibers was found in the range 140-160 nm using FESEM. This scaffold showed excellent antibacterial activity against both Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Gram-negative Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria. The hemocompatibility was analyzed using platelet adhesion test. The cytotoxic activity of these nanofibrous scaffold against fibroblast cells (NIH 3T3) was studied and found no cytotoxic effect. Therefore, these results substantiated that Carica papaya loaded PVA/Gelatin nanofibrous scaffold could be a promising candidate for wound healing application.

Keywords: Carica papaya; Electrospinning; Nanofibrous scaffold; Polymers; Wound dressing.