Synthesis and characterization of polyvinyl alcohol/dextran/Zataria wound dressing with superior antibacterial and antioxidant properties

Abstract The aim of the present research was to synthesize and characterize polyvinyl alcohol/dextran/Zataria essential oil hydrogel wound dressings. For this purpose, dressings were made with different concentrations of polymers (PVA and Dex) and ZMO by solvent casting method. By dissolving PVA and Dextran in de‐ionized water, PVA‐Dex gel was made. The polymeric solution was mixed with glycerol. The pH of PVA‐DEX‐Glycerol solution was adjusted to 3 and glutaraldehyde was used as a cross‐linker. ZMO, as the antibacterial and antioxidant agent, was added to the samples in different percentages (2,5,10%). It was found that both Dex and ZMO significantly influenced the hydrophilicity, gel fraction, and water uptake capacity of hydrogel films. The results showed that by the addition of Dex to PVA, the contact angle decreased from 48.54° ± 0.95 to 45.90 ± 0.73°, whereas by the addition of ZMO, the contact angle increased to 71.1 ± 2.43. SEM investigations revealed that the fabricated films had a uniform structure and the surface roughness increased with the addition of ZMO. The results indicated an increased elongation of 11.5% with the incorporation of ZMO into the films. The antimicrobial evaluation of the produced films showed that the loading of 10% v/v ZMO could broaden the microbicidal activity of PVA/Dex/ZMO film. The investigations on the interactions between synthesized wound dressings and fibroblast cells showed that the addition of ZMO into hydrogel films improved cell viability. The findings showed that PVA/Dex/ZMO films could have considerable use as wound dressing.