Concurrent tissue engineering and infection prophylaxis utilising stable dual action amoxicillin loaded scaffolds

Abstract

Scaffolds have proven to be beneficial biocompatible wound healing enhancers, however they don't guard against wound infections. The aim of this study is to formulate scaffolds loaded with Amoxicillin (AMX), a broad spectrum antibiotic to have a dual action of acceleration of wound healing as well as prevention of infection of the wound while simultaneously preserving AMX stability. A 24 full factorial design was applied to study the effect of the type of protein polymer (collagen/gelatin), type of crosslinker (chitosan/alginate), ratio of polymer to cross linker (70:30, 60:40) and the total percentage of polymers (4%, 16%) on the porosity, hardness and in vitro AMX release of the prepared scaffolds. The extent of cross linking between polymers used was also simulated using Maestro® software. The morphology, compatibility, release and stability of the optimized formula was studied on vitro as well as in vivo activity by determining the wound healing rate as well as histopathological and biochemical analysis of MMP9 and TNF- α in rats. Optimized AMX loaded scaffolds formed of collagen/chitosan was found to have superior properties with porous structure, 8.62 ± 0.32 Kp hardness, 0.984 ± 0.068 porosity, 98.65 ± 7.62% drug content as well as sustained release of AMX over 24 h. The optimized formula has shown good stability properties in accelerated conditions over 6 months. Histopathological studies confirmed the enhanced wound healing properties of the optimized AMX loaded scaffolds as well as significantly reduced inflammation markers (MMP9 and TNF- α) in rats compared to the untreated groups. Thus it can be concluded that AMX loaded scaffolds are a promising wound healing means with various applications owing to their tissue engineering and infection from prophylaxis as well as increased stability.