Antibacterial and wound healing analysis of gelatin/zeolite scaffolds

In this article, gelatin/copper activated faujasites (CAF) composite scaffolds were fabricated by lyophilisation technique for promoting partial thickness wound healing. The optimised scaffold with 0.5% (w/w) of CAF, G (0.5%), demonstrated pore size in the range of 10-350 μm. Agar disc diffusion tests verified the antibacterial role of G (0.5%) and further supported that bacterial lysis was due to copper released from the core of CAF embedded in the gelatin matrix. The change in morphology of bacteria as a function of CAF content in gelatin scaffold was studied using SEM analysis. The confocal images revealed the increase in mortality rate of bacteria with increase in concentration of incorporated CAF in gelatin matrix. Proficient oxygen supply to needy cells is a continuing hurdle faced by tissue engineering scaffolds. The dissolved oxygen measurements revealed that CAF embedded in the scaffold were capable of increasing oxygen supply and thereby promote cell proliferation. Also, G (0.5%) exhibited highest cell viability on NIH 3T3 fibroblast cells which was mainly attributed to the highly porous architecture and its ability to enhance oxygen supply to cells. In vivo studies conducted on Sprague Dawley rats revealed the ability of G (0.5%) to promote skin regeneration in 20 days. Thus, the obtained data suggest that G (0.5%) is an ideal candidate for wound healing applications.