Bacterial cellulose/poly vinyl alcohol based wound dressings with sustained antibiotic delivery

Abstract

The current work was aimed to prepare bacterial cellulose/poly vinyl alcohol (BC/PVA) wound dressings loaded with antibiotic which were prepared via freeze-thawing. The swelling ratio of BC/PVA hydrogels was in the range of 188–240%. The water loss percentage of BC was improved with the addition of PVA. 30% of the cumulative ampicillin delivery from BC/PVA hydrogels was achieved during 120 h suggesting significant role of PVA incorporation since 50% of ampicillin was released from BC after 24 h. BC/PVA hydrogels showed great antibacterial activity against E.coli and S. aureus. The results revealed that BC/PVA hydrogels presented great potential as wound dressings with high swelling ratio, low water loss percentage and slow antibiotic release properties.