Silver nanoparticles in electrospun ethyl hydroxy ethyl cellulose-PVA Nanofiber: Synthesis, characterization and wound dressing applications

Electrospinning is a simple, cost-effective technique and a reproducible process for both synthetic and natural polymers. It is found to be an attractive tool for various applications in biomedical engineering, filtration, protective clothing, catalysis reactions and sensors. Non-ionic cellulose ethers namely Ethyl Hydroxy Ethyl Cellulose (EHEC) is an important polysaccharide which is non-toxic, biocompatible and biodegradable and finds applications as thickening/rheology control agents in paints, cosmetics, detergents, oil recovery and also in the biomedical area. Poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is a semi-crystalline hydrophilic polymer which is highly biocompatible and non-toxic having good thermal and mechanical properties and also high water solubility. Silver shows powerful antimicrobial activity and is non-toxic. It has been used to cure severe burns and chronic ulcers for many decades and is extensively used as an additive in various fields like prostheses, burn treatment, catheters, vascular grafts, dental resin components, ion exchange fibers, stainless steel materials, human skin and coating of medical devices. In the present work, EHEC/PVA nanofibers embedded with silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are studied for their antibacterial activity using both gram positive and gram negative bacteria. The nanofibers show increase in tensile properties with the addition of silver nano-particles. The AgNPs embedded EHEC/PVA nanofiber mats having 0.5% AgNPs were found to enhance the wound healing with no scar formation in wistar rats. The biological in-vitro and in-vivo studies support the potential of EHEC based nanofibers as excellent bio-materials for the treatment of severe burns and wounds. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the electrospinning of EHEC/PVA nanofibers for wound healing applications.