Development of Polyphenol-Functionalized Gelatin-Poly(vinylpyrrolidone) IPN for Potential Biomedical Applications

Owing to their suitable physical and chemical properties, hydrogels have been considered a convenient choice for wound dressings because of the advantages that they offer, such as maintaining the moist environment required for wound healing. In this research, interpenetrating hydrogels of polyphenol-functionalized gelatin (GE), a water-soluble protein derived from natural polymer collagen with excellent biocompatibility, no immunogenicity, and hydrophilicity, and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), a hydrophilic, non-toxic, biodegradable, biocompatible polymer that is soluble in many solvents, widely used in biomedical applications, particularly as a basic material for the manufacturing of hydrogel wound dressings, were synthesized. Gallic acid (GA) was selected in this work to study whether the interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) synthesized can provide antioxidant properties given that this material is intended to be used as a potential wound dressing. The obtained IPN hydrogels showed improved mechanical properties in comparison with pristine gelatin network (net-GE), a porous structure, and good thermal stability for biological applications. The antioxidant capacity of the IPNs functionalized with GA was compared to Trolox standards, obtaining a radical scavenging activity (RSA%) equivalent to a Trolox concentration of 400 µM.