Dressing membrane composites of PVA/chitosan/MgO nanoparticles for wound healing applications in rat model

Chitosan (CS) has excellent film-forming properties; unfortunately, its use as a film wound dressing is limited because of its weak mechanical properties, especially in its wet state. For this reason, modifications with different materials are investigated in this study. The aim of this work was the combination of chitosan with poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA), magnesium oxide nanoparticles (MgO), and glycerol as a plasticizer agent which can strengthen CS films, increase their flexibility, and enhance their resistance to microbes. Four types of films were prepared, i.e., CS, PVA, CS/PVA, and CS/PVA@MgO, using solvent casting method. The films' ability for wound dressing was assessed by UV spectroscopy, mechanical properties, Fourier transform infrared, X-ray diffraction, antimicrobial activity, and in vivo studies as a practical application on wounds. CS/PVA@MgO showed an improvement in mechanical properties as it has elongation at break of 522% and strain 585%. In addition, the antimicrobial activity of CS/PVA@MgO film was extensively enhanced as it inhibited Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Candida albicans by 90.78%, 88.83%, and 97.18%, respectively. The results showed that composite film has a good mechanical properties and antimicrobial activity expressed a suitable wound dressing material. Furthermore, in vivo experiment evaluated the clinical efficacy of CS/PVA@MgO film in wound healing.