In vitro and in vivo study of carboxymethyl chitosan/polyvinyl alcohol for wound dressing application

Abstract Antibacterial, good biosafety, and wound healing enhancers, are the most favorable factors for wound dressing. Designing nanomaterial of the scaffold for supporting skin regeneration is a complicated process. Carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC) structure similar to the glycosaminoglycan and antibacterial activity combined with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) (PVA/CMC) can lead to satisfactory properties for wound management. In this study, a collection of electrospun nanofibrous scaffolds are fabricated by blending the constant PVA concentration (9%) with a limited area of CMC concentration (2%, 3%, 4%, and 5%). PVA/CMC scaffolds characteristic was investigated through a scanning electron microscope, Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy, and contact angle tests. The fiber diameter values were measured for PVA (144.60 nm), chitosan (131.57 nm), and average different concentration of CMC in PVA/CMC (104.7 ± 2.45 nm). In vitro potential of the scaffolds were evaluated by using human dermal fibroblast cells and human placental‐derived mesenchymal stem cells. According to in vitro results, PVA/CMC4% scaffold was selected as the optimized wound dressing for skin tissue engineering. The in vivo wound healing data in rat models illustrated more healing capacity of PVA/CMC4% dressing in which accelerating wound closure and freshly healed tissue with high similarity to the normal skin was reorganized.