Cellulose Nanocrystal-Enhanced Aloe Vera-Sodium Alginate-Based Hydrogels as Novel Low-Cost, Bioactive, High-Strength, and Sustainable Wound Dressing Materials
Listed in
This article is not in any list yet, why not save it to one of your lists.Abstract
With the increasing global prevalence of chronic wounds, there is a growing demand for affordable and sustainable bioactive dressings to prevent and treat these wounds. Aloe vera and sodium alginate are widely utilised as bioactive components in wound dressings due to their low cost, biocompatibility, and tissue repair properties, however, they have limited antimicrobial properties, poor mechanical strength, and low structural integrity over prolonged durations compared to other commercially available wound dressings. Several Australian First Nations traditional bush remedies have previously been reported to have antimicrobial activity however, limited studies have investigated their effectiveness against wound-related microbes or simulated biofilms. The seven traditional bush remedy extracts used in this study exhibited antimicrobial activity; however, lemon myrtle (Backhousia citriodora) oil (LMO) demonstrated the most comprehensive antimicrobial activity. To enhance the mechanical properties of aloe vera:sodium alginate hydrogel films, cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) were incorporated. CNC is an emerging renewable nanomaterial that can provide structural stability and resilience by forming robust chemical and physical crosslinks, resulting in highly structured crystalline domains within the hydrogel matrix. The incorporation of CNC at all concentrations improved hydrogel swelling, moisture retention, water vapour transmission rates, thickness, and protein adsorption, while all the hydrogel prototypes were biocompatible with HaCaT human keratinocyte cells. The most promising hydrogel overall contained 5 µg/mL LMO and 1% CNC as it had the highest antimicrobial activity against S. epidermidis and C. albicans, enhanced mechanical strength and promoted cell proliferation of keratinocytes without compromising other mechanical, physicochemical and rheological properties present in commercial hydrogels.