Introduction

An optimal wound dressing should facilitate gaseous exchange, absorb excess exudate, establish a moist wound-healing environment, and be easily removed without causing damage to the wound. It should also be nontoxic, biocompatible, and antimicrobial. The leading causes of these performances are the material's functional properties and the microenvironment that was established. It seems that no single substance can fulfill all the demands for every phase of the healing process of wounds. In this project we have developed hydrogels based on gelatin and chitosan containing honey for wound healing applications, as honey is known to have antibacterial properties. Preliminarily we have studied the effect of various types of honey containing hydrogels as antibacterial materials. The preliminary results are presented in this study.

Method

Hydrogel films based on gelatin and chitosan containing various types of honey were prepared by solvent casting method. The antibacterial properties of the material were tested using the incubation method. The surface morphology was studied by electron microscopy and swelling in water was measured gravimetrically.

Results

The hydrogel in water exhibited excellent swelling with high equilibrium water content and excellent mechanical properties. In the presence of bacteria, the hydrogels degraded slowly due to disintegration of collagen matrix by the bacteria. Interestingly, the hydrogels containing Manuka honey exhibited good antibacterial properties.

Conclusion and work-in-progress

Based on the formulation containing manuka honey, cell-growth on the hydrogel is currently in progress.