The principal investigator of nano-BILY in collaboration with a central university and two industries (Environ Care Products LLP, Greater Noida, India and Epion Labs Pvt Ltd., Hyderabad, India) has developed a unique approach for efficient and rapid treatment of diabetic wounds. Developed nanofiberour mat for faster diabetic wound healing application.
It was a multi-institutional collaborative effort to make this concept executable. The bioactive ingredient ,curcumin, was loaded in a nanofiber mat engineered from a polycaprolactone-/polyvinyl alcohol-silk fibroin blend.
"Uniquely designed nanofiber mats have been engineered for efficient and rapid healing of diabetic wounds. The in-vitro and in-vivo results are thrilling and showing the potential to translate this to what is available to end users."
Abstract
Electrospinning is emerging as a versatile technique nanofibers fabrication because due to their unique properties such as large surface area to volume ratio, porosity and maintaining moist wound environment, the nanofibers are able to deliver sustained drug release and oxygen to the wound for rapid healing of diabetic wound. The present work was aimed to prepare and evaluate silk fibroin-curcumin based nanofiber in combination with polycaprolactone (PCL) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) which helped to strengthen the wound healing properties of nanofiber. Silk fibroin is a naturally occurring polymer was selected one polymer for making nanofibrous mat due to its unique properties such as biodegradability, permeability, oxygen supply and maintain moisture content in the wound. SEM results showed diameters of fibers varied in the range between 200 and 350 nm and their tensile strength ranged from 12.41 to 16.80 MP. The nanofibers were causing sustained release of curcumin for many hours. The in-vivo wound healing studies in streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice showed rapid wound healing efficacy as compared to conventional formulations. Furthermore, the histopathological studies evidenced its ability to restore the normal skin structure and histological conditions of tissues. The silk fibroin-based nanofiber wound dressing, therefore appears to be an ideal preparation, in combination with curcumin, because it blends the anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory properties of curcumin. Therefore, it was concluded that the silk fibroin-based nanofiber loaded with curcumin has great healing potential in diabetic wound.
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