Abstract

A hydrogel sheet composed of chitosan, honey and gelatin (HS; 0.5:20:20 w/w) was developed as a burn wound dressing. HS showed powerful antibacterial efficacy up to 100% to S. aureus and E. coli, significantly superior to chitosan and honey used separately. A series of toxicological evaluations demonstrated that HS is not toxic and not irritatant to skin and body. An animal burn model was performed on the back of New Zealand rabbit, and treated respectively with HS, MEBO® ointment (Shantou MEBO pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., Guangdong, China) and sterile gauze. The macroscopic image and histopathology were examined.

The results showed that HS had a significant effect on wound contraction with the shortest treatment duration of 12 days compared to MEBO® ointment and no treatment. Histological examination revealed that HS-treated burn wound was repaired with intact epidermis on day 12, but the wound treated with MEBO did not completely heal. Therefore, HS demonstrated its potential as a treatment.

Highlights

• Hydrogel sheets produced from chitosan, honey and gelatin in different ratios
• The swelling property, mechanical property, antibacterial activity and morphology of the hydrogels were characterized
• Wound treatment was carried out with the hydrogel sample HS, MEBO ointment and no treatment
• HS-treated wounds heal with intact epidermis whereas MEBO-treated ones do not heal completely

References

1. ^{^} In Press (dx.doi.org)