Electrospun polycaprolactone nanofibrous membranes loaded with baicalin for antibacterial wound dressing

Due to the rise in bacterial resistance, the antibacterial extractions from Chinese herbs have been used more frequently for wound care. In this work, baicalin, an extraction from the Chinese herb Scutellaria baicalensis, was utilized as the antibacterial component in the poly(ε-caprolactone)/MXene (PCL/Ti₃C₂T_X) hybrid nanofibrous membranes for wound dressing. The results revealed that the presence of Ti₃C₂T_X aided in the diameter reduction of the electrospun nanofibers. The PCL hybrid membrane containing 3 wt% Ti₃C₂T_X nanoflakes and 5 wt% baicalin exhibited the smallest mean diameter of 210 nm. Meanwhile, the antibacterial tests demonstrated that the PCL ternary hybrid nanofibers containing Ti₃C₂T_X and baicalin exhibited adequate antibacterial activity against the Gram-positive bacterial S. aureus due to the good synergistic effects of Ti₃C₂T_X naoflakes and baicalin. The addition of Ti₃C₂T_X nanoflakes and baicalin could significantly improve the hydrophilicity of the membranes, resulting in the release of baicalin from the nanofibers. In addition, the cytotoxicity of the nanofibers on rat skeletal myoblast L6 cells confirmed their good compatibility with these PCL-based nanofibrous membrances. This work offers a feasible way to prepare antibacterial nanofibrous membranes using Chinese herb extraction for wound dressing applications.