Physicochemical and Antibacterial Characterization of Nanofibrous Wound Dressing from Silk Fibroin-polyvinyl Alcohol- Elaeagnus Angustifolia Extract

The herbal drug incorporated nanofibers with potential accelerating wound healing has become a promising wound dressing to treat wounds. The present research aimed to study the effects of adding different amounts of Elaeagnus Angustifolia ( EA ) extract on physical, mechanical, and biological properties of silk fibroin-polyvinyl alcohol (SF-PVA) nanofibers. Thus, different electrospun mats were made by changing the SF to the EA ratio. The successful incorporation of EA in SF-PVA nanofibers was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). No obvious change was observed in the mean fiber diameter except for EA/SF ratio 1:3. Also, mechanical properties results showed that the ultimate tensile strength of samples dropped from 9±0.8 MPa to 2.50±0.03 MPa with decreasing SF amount. The in vitro release studies indicated that the fickian diffusion controlled the EA release profile and it was faster in the nanofibers containing more EA. Furthermore, the addition of EA into the nanofibrous dressings improved their antioxidant activity as well as antibacterial activity against both gram-positive ( S. aureus ) and gram- negative ( E. coli ) bacteria. Cell viability was also measured using fibroblast cells cultured on prepared dressings and results proved that the higher amounts of EA have a significant impact on cell viability. These findings suggest the advantages of EA as an additive to regulate cell behavior and for skin tissue regeneration.