High concentration honey chitosan electrospun nanofibers: biocompatibility and antibacterial effects

Honey nanofibers represent an attractive formulation with unique medicinal and wound healing advantages. Nanofibers with honey concentrations of <10% were prepared, however, there is a need to prepare nanofibers with higher honey concentrations to increase the antibacterial and wound healing effects. In this work, chitosan and honey (H) were cospun with polyvinyl alcohol (P) allowing the fabrication of nanofibers with high honey concentrations up to 40% and high chitosan concentrations up to 5.5% of the total weight of the fibers using biocompatible solvents (1% acetic acid). The fabricated nanofibers were further chemically crosslinked, by exposure to glutaraldehyde vapor, and physically crosslinked by heating and freezing/thawing. The new HP-chitosan nanofibers showed pronounced antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus but weak antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli. The developed HP-chitosan nanofibers revealed no cytotoxicity effects on cultured fibroblasts. In conclusion, biocompatible, antimicrobial crosslinked honey/polyvinyl alcohol/chitosan nanofibers were developed which hold potential as effective wound dressing.