Resveratrol Loaded Ionically Cross-Linked Hydrogel Film for Burn Wound Healing Potential in Animals

Background and Objective: Burn wounds treatment is a costly process which thus necessitates to development of alternative treatment strategies. This study aimed to develop ionically cross-linked sodium alginate hydrogel film loaded with resveratrol and to study it for burn wound healing animal models. Materials and Methods: Hydrogel film of sodium alginate was prepared by ionic cross-linking method and subjected to tests like drug content, swelling degree, in vitro degradation, tensile strength, in vitro drug release, vibrational and thermal analysis and in vivo testing on animals. Results: The drug contents were above 90%, with a higher degree of swelling observed for non-cross-linked hydrogel in comparison to cross-linked. The cross-linked degraded only up to 11.49 +/- 1.03% within 60 min with a higher tensile strength value of 21.39 +/- 2.3 MPa and reduced elongation break (1.06 +/- 0.07%). The cross-linked hydrogel released 20.49 +/- 0.28% within 24 hrs of the experiment following super case II transport drug release. Vibrational analysis revealed significant rigidification at the amide-II region depicting efficient cross-linking which was also evident from thermal analysis where a significant increase in transition temperature and enthalpy of the hydrogel was observed. The developed hydrogel rapidly regenerated burned skin tissue within 14 days of treatment application in comparison to the untreated animal group with an average wound size of 33.875 +/- 6.44 mm(2) and percent re-epithelization of 86.09 +/- 4.3% on 14 days. Conclusion: Resveratrol hydrogel film proved to bea suitable platform for burn wound healing applications.