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Antimicrobial hydrogel burn wound dressings

Author
Organization
Abstract
The survival rates of burn wound patients have increased significantly during the past decades thanks to the development of state-of-the-art diagnostic tools and treatments. However, patients still suffer from prolonged physical and psychological pains. In addition, they are also facing a heavy financial burden. A universal wound dressing does not exist since wound characteristics can greatly differ. There exist however a number of criteria wound healing dressings should fulfill such as maintaining a moist environment, be non-adherent, provide mechanical support, etc. Commonly used (burn) dressings such as Kaltostat®, Flaminal®, etc. contain alginates. These linear polysaccharides extracted from brown algae are biocompatible and known for their ability to absorb and retain large amounts of exudate, hereby creating an optimal moist wound environment. Another interesting biopolymer is gelatin, a derivative of collagen which is a very important structural protein in the human body, including the skin. Interestingly, unlike alginate, gelatin has cell-interactive properties which can be an advantage for wound healing when aiming at skin regeneration. In the present work, gelatin and alginate have been modified with methacrylamide and methacrylate functionalities respectively. Chemically crosslinked networks were obtained through UV irradiation. The hydrogels developed have been characterized using IR-mapping, rheology and swelling experiments. Interestingly, in addition to conventional polymer networks, double networks or interpenetrating networks (IPN's) have been synthesized by incubating a UV-crosslinked gelatin-methacrylamide hydrogel film in a (modified) alginate solution, followed by a second crosslinking procedure using either UV irradiation or Ca2+ ions. A very important aspect of burn wound treatment is the prevention of infections. Therefore, the incorporation of an antimicrobial agent in the hydrogels would greatly improve their performance as burn wound dressings. Poly(vinylpyrrolidone)-iodine (PVP-I) possesses several interesting properties including a broad microbicidal action spectrum, not only against bacteria but also against fungi, protozoans and viruses as well, no development of resistance,… In the present work, PVP-I was incorporated electrospun alginate fibers. Interestingly, nanofibrous membranes show an increased surface area compared with hydrogel sheets which might be beneficial for several aspects, including the preservation of a moist wound environment and an increased exposure of the wound to medicinal additives. In addition, the improved flexibility of these dressings increases the patients’ comfort.

Citation

Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:

MLA
Stubbe, Birgit, et al. “Antimicrobial Hydrogel Burn Wound Dressings.” Advanced Functional Polymers for Medicine, Abstracts, 2014.
APA
Stubbe, B., Hoeksema, H., Vanhaecke, F., Monstrey, S., Van Vlierberghe, S., & Dubruel, P. (2014). Antimicrobial hydrogel burn wound dressings. Advanced Functional Polymers for Medicine, Abstracts. Presented at the Seminar on Advanced Functional Polymers for Medicine (AFPM 2014), Liège, Belgium.
Chicago author-date
Stubbe, Birgit, Hendrik Hoeksema, Frank Vanhaecke, Stan Monstrey, Sandra Van Vlierberghe, and Peter Dubruel. 2014. “Antimicrobial Hydrogel Burn Wound Dressings.” In Advanced Functional Polymers for Medicine, Abstracts.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
Stubbe, Birgit, Hendrik Hoeksema, Frank Vanhaecke, Stan Monstrey, Sandra Van Vlierberghe, and Peter Dubruel. 2014. “Antimicrobial Hydrogel Burn Wound Dressings.” In Advanced Functional Polymers for Medicine, Abstracts.
Vancouver
1.
Stubbe B, Hoeksema H, Vanhaecke F, Monstrey S, Van Vlierberghe S, Dubruel P. Antimicrobial hydrogel burn wound dressings. In: Advanced Functional Polymers for Medicine, Abstracts. 2014.
IEEE
[1]
B. Stubbe, H. Hoeksema, F. Vanhaecke, S. Monstrey, S. Van Vlierberghe, and P. Dubruel, “Antimicrobial hydrogel burn wound dressings,” in Advanced Functional Polymers for Medicine, Abstracts, Liège, Belgium, 2014.
@inproceedings{4413338,
  abstract     = {{The survival rates of burn wound patients have increased significantly during the past decades thanks to the development of state-of-the-art diagnostic tools and treatments. However, patients still suffer from prolonged physical and psychological pains. In addition, they are also facing a heavy financial burden. A universal wound dressing does not exist since wound characteristics can greatly differ. There exist however a number of criteria wound healing dressings should fulfill such as maintaining a moist environment, be non-adherent, provide mechanical support, etc. Commonly used (burn) dressings such as Kaltostat®, Flaminal®, etc. contain alginates. These linear polysaccharides extracted from brown algae are biocompatible and known for their ability to absorb and retain large amounts of exudate, hereby creating an optimal moist wound environment. Another interesting biopolymer is gelatin, a derivative of collagen which is a very important structural protein in the human body, including the skin. Interestingly, unlike alginate, gelatin has cell-interactive properties which can be an advantage for wound healing when aiming at skin regeneration. In the present work, gelatin and alginate have been modified with methacrylamide and methacrylate functionalities respectively. Chemically crosslinked networks were obtained through UV irradiation. The hydrogels developed have been characterized using IR-mapping, rheology and swelling experiments. Interestingly, in addition to conventional polymer networks, double networks or interpenetrating networks (IPN's) have been synthesized by incubating a UV-crosslinked gelatin-methacrylamide hydrogel film in a (modified) alginate solution, followed by a second crosslinking procedure using either UV irradiation or Ca2+ ions. 
A very important aspect of burn wound treatment is the prevention of infections. Therefore, the incorporation of an antimicrobial agent in the hydrogels would greatly improve their performance as burn wound dressings. Poly(vinylpyrrolidone)-iodine (PVP-I) possesses several interesting properties including a broad microbicidal action spectrum, not only against bacteria but also against fungi, protozoans and viruses as well, no development of resistance,… In the present work, PVP-I was incorporated electrospun alginate fibers. Interestingly, nanofibrous membranes show an increased surface area compared with hydrogel sheets which might be beneficial for several aspects, including the preservation of a moist wound environment and an increased exposure of the wound to medicinal additives. In addition, the improved flexibility of these dressings increases the patients’ comfort.}},
  author       = {{Stubbe, Birgit and Hoeksema, Hendrik and Vanhaecke, Frank and Monstrey, Stan and Van Vlierberghe, Sandra and Dubruel, Peter}},
  booktitle    = {{Advanced Functional Polymers for Medicine, Abstracts}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  location     = {{Liège, Belgium}},
  title        = {{Antimicrobial hydrogel burn wound dressings}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}