Antioxidant, antibacterial and biodegradable hydrogel films from carboxymethyl tragacanth gum and clove extract: Potential for wound dressings application

Bioactive films based on sodium carboxymethyl tragacanth gum (CMT) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) enriched with clove extract (CE) for potential wound healing applications were fabricated by the solution casting method. The fabricated films were characterized by FTIR, XRD, EDX, SEM, and TGA analyses. The XRD pattern of CMT/PVA/CE5% showed an amorphous structure with broad peaks, suggesting that the presence of CE led to a reduction in crystallinity and an increase in amorphousness in the polymer film. The fabricated films showed a high water absorption capacity and swelled up to 80% over 24 hours for the CMT/PVA/CE5% formulation crosslinked with 15% citric acid. Excellent biodegradability with 88% was observed in soil over 40 days for CMT/PVA/CE5%. The presence of CE in CMT/PVA improved the antioxidant activity by up to 92% within 30 minutes. Strong antibacterial effects of CMT/PVA/CE5% film were observed against Salmonella enterica and Staphylococcus aureus, with inhibition zone diameters of 20 mm and 18 mm, respectively. Across concentrations from 25-600 μg/mL, CMT/PVA/CE5% films displayed over 80% cell viability on cultured human dermal fibroblasts after 48 hours. The results indicated that CMT/PVA/CE5% bioactive film can be employed as effective, non-toxic wound dressings with infection prevention and healing promotion capabilities.