Sodium

Engineering

Keratin

Polymer chemistry

Bacteria

Biology

Materials science

Surgery

Carboxymethyl cellulose

Wound dressing

Cellulose

Antibacterial activity

Biochemistry

Clindamycin

Chemical engineering

Immunology

Genetics

Organic chemistry

Self-healing hydrogels

Antibiotics

Microbiology

Composite material

Medicine

Chemistry

Wound healing

Pathology

International Journal of Biological Macromolecules

This study offers a new antibacterial wound dressing from carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)-human hair keratin with topical clindamycin delivery. Keratin was successfully extracted from human hair. Different sponges fabricated by changing CMC to keratin ratio were characterized and compared. Halloysite nanotubes were used as carriers to control the clindamycin release. Various characterization techniques were used to determine the effects of keratin addition on the structure, morphology, physical properties, drug release, antibacterial activity, and cellular behavior of CMC hydrogels. As proved by SEM and EDS, porous structure with interconnected pores was successfully formed and clindamycin-loaded HNTs were uniformly dispersed within the porous structures. Increasing the keratin in CMC hydrogel not only lowered its water vapor transmission rate to a suitable range for wound healing but also improved the water stability of CMC hydrogel. The in vitro release study indicated that clindamycin was released slower in samples containing higher keratin and the Fickian diffusion mechanism controlled their release profile. The fabricated dressing effectively inhibits S. aureus bacterial colonies growth after 24 h. Fibroblast culturing on the fabricated sponges indicated that cellular attachment, proliferation, and spreading were significantly enhanced with increasing the keratin amount.

Carboxymethyl cellulose-human hair keratin hydrogel with controlled clindamycin release as antibacterial wound dressing